


Behind your smile

by katychan666



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at humour, Bickering, Coming Out, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Mild Angst, dorks falling in love, inspired by neon sign amber, sexually frustrated zoro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:22:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 62,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26915086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katychan666/pseuds/katychan666
Summary: Zoro is a security guard at a club, where he has to deal with a very annoying regular that likes getting in trouble; Sanji. Sanji is annoying as hell, but there's something about his smile that captivates Zoro...
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 187
Kudos: 226





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by one of my fave mangas out there, I will give my own twist onto the story later into the plot :)  
> I hope you will like it :)

Zoro was standing by the side, watching the club very closely in case that there was any disturbance happening. It's been a bit over two months since he started working as a security guard over at one of the clubs. It wasn't an ideal job, but since Zoro needed the money - being a broke student wasn't an easy job - it did the trick. It was enough to pay his portion of the rent for the month and he huffed under his breath. He also didn't mean to brag, but he was quite good at what he did as well. Given his fast reflexes thanks to years of kendo training, Zoro really didn't have any difficulties with breaking up any potential fights.  _ There were quite a lot. _

It shouldn't really come as a surprise though. Mixing people and alcohol was never a good idea. And when you had hundreds of drunk people in the club at the same time something like that was bound to happen. So there he was, looking around and was trying to scope out the area, making sure that people were well behaved and he clicked with his tongue. Zoro was very aware of how much he stood out - his hair was bright green, which he was starting to believe that it was a bad idea. One of his roommates, Luffy, talked him into believing that it was a good idea but he was starting to think that he should switch back. Zoro liked the colour; but people stared way too much.

So far it was a pretty boring evening and he leaned against the wall but still made sure that his eyes were on the people around him. Zoro was never much of a people person as he knew that the world was filled with all kinds of shitty people but working in the club gave him a whole new insight in just how people were idiotic and selfish. They were completely insufferable when they were wasted. The only thing that kept him working there was the money. The salary for the part time job was amazing. Yawning, Zoro narrowed his eyes when he heard something - voices that were getting louder by each passing second and he just shook his head. _ Well, that was his cue to have a look at what the hell was up again _ .

Zoro didn't have to search too long to find the source of all the yelling - he walked over to the back and saw a very familiar face that honestly pissed him off way too much. He was blonde, his eyebrows were in a very unusual curly shape and he always smelled of cigarettes. He was a regular there; about the same age as Zoro. At least he thought so. Not that it mattered. The thing that pissed Zoro off the most about this particular individual was that he was always coming there and was getting wasted. For starters, his alcohol tolerance was pathetic. And second - when he was drunk he was annoying as hell. Also he would hook up with random women every single day and Zoro was royally pissed off when he would just hear his annoying laughter, gritting his teeth.

Because of that idiot fights always happened.  _ Just what did he do this time now?! _ The individual went by the name of Sanji and that was about it that Zoro knew about him and he crossed his arms on top of his chest.

"I told you that she is my girlfriend. Dude, piss off. If you hit on her one more time I will take you out and beat you into a pulp," hissed a guy that had his arm wrapped around a young woman and Zoro rolled his eyes. _ Again hitting on a taken person? _ Ugh, how couldn't he take a hint?!

"Look," spoke up Sanji and laughed. It was obvious that he was drunk. His cheeks were red, his speech was slurred. "It's obvious that she needs someone better than you," said Sanji and then looked at the girl. "If you would satisfy her enough she wouldn't participate in the flirting," said Sanji shamelessly.  _ That guy was a pervert.  _ And Zoro detested him. There was more than one occasion in which Zoro had to throw the idiot out. He didn't know why the idiot hasn't been banned from their club already, gritting his teeth and he angrily grumbled under his breath. 

"You take that back," demanded the boyfriend and Sanji laughed but paid no attention to him. Instead, he looked at the girl and winked very clumsily. 

"How about you come over to my place?" asked Sanji and hummed along. "Or we can go to a hotel. To keep things more fun. What do you-" he carried on and finally earned himself a smack on his yapper. That was enough to push the girl's boyfriend over the edge and he just snapped, Sanji getting ready for a drunken smack back, but he missed and before he managed to hit him again, Zoro decided to finally step in and break up the fight.

"That was enough," said Zoro and as soon as the other man looked at him, he flinched. Sanji on the other hand looked completely unphased and he took a big sip of his drink and rolled his eyes. 

"Ugh, it's you again?" whined Sanji and clicked with his tongue. "Why is that I get a visit from you, Marimo, every time I'm about to score a lady?" carried on Sanji and hiccuped. "Such-such a cockblock. If you want some action, go somewhere else. She is mine," said Sanji and banged his fists against the table. He then turned and much to Zoro's amusement the couple was gone. Sanji was devastated. "Look what you did now," whined Zoro. "My love is gone!"

"Your love, pft! Give me a break," said Zoro. "You find new "love" every single day," said Zoro and Sanji was again scowling at him. Sanji didn't know what the hell the idiot's problem was. Sanji was a regular at the bar for a while now and he never had any problems until this green headed idiot decided to start working in his favourite club. So unfair, ugh!

"If you want to get laid I think you should find your own women and not prey on my ladies," said Sanji and huffed under his breath and clicked with his tongue. Zoro narrowed his eyes - this idiot got it all wrong. Zoro wasn't really the dating type, he much preferred his solitude. Not that it really mattered what the curly eyebrow though of him. Zoro didn't care. Biting into his lip, Zoro huffed under his breath and decided to stay calm. He was going to have to ask his boss for a raise for having to deal with this jerk on a daily basis. 

"I am only doing my job, you perv," said Zoro and tried to walk away because he didn't want to be standing there next to the idiot but it looked like that Sanji still wasn't done with him because Sanji stood up and slowly walked over to Zoro who was trying to make his way across the dance floor. He heard someone calling for him. Zoro turned around and his jaw dropped when he saw Sanji slowly walking over to him, stumbling over his feet and was bumping into people. Judging by how many people there were it wasn't going to be that hard for himself to get really hurt and Zoro groaned because he couldn't just walk away. As a security guard it was his job to worry about safety of all people even if they were idiotic and-

Sanji was walking over to the green giant because he wanted to give him a piece of his mind. That was why he followed him but when he reached the dance floor he yelled as he lost his balance and almost fell down on the floor. Still he was stubborn enough to keep going and formed a fist. He was going to smack him so fucking hard. Sanji almost managed to catch up to him when he suddenly bumped into someone. In the state of panic and because everything was spinning in front of his eyes. Someone grabbed his hand and yanked him over to the side leaving Sanji clinging onto him.

As soon as Zoro felt Sanji grabbing him he let go and with pleasure watched Sanji losing his balance and falling onto the floor. Sanji whined as he massaged his achy butt, whining and then he looked up. Marimo was laughing at him! What an asshole! Sanji wanted to kick him but it was no use. His stomach growled and he decided that it was best for him to stay put. Instead he kicked the floor and Zoro snickered. "Idiot, that hurt," whined Sanji. 

“Serves you right,” said Zoro as Sanji was slowly picking himself off the floor and he was cursing under his breath, which only made Zoro’s grin widen. Sanji was pissed off way too much; the other was a fucking sadist. Straightening his clothes, Sanji tried to play it off cool, but of course it wasn’t working. “Your alcohol tolerance is pathetic,” commented Zoro and Sanji’s face turned even redder, huffing under his breath.

“What did you say?!”

“The truth?” offered Zoro.

“Stupid idiot,” said Sanji as he was slowly walking away from the other. He didn’t want to be there next to him for any second longer, nope. He needed to get the hell away from him. Also what the fuck was wrong with his hair? Why green of all colours? It pissed off Sanji. “Why is your hair green? It pisses me off, I’ll shave your head,” carried his rant as he walked away, making sure that the Marimo heard him. “I mean who wants to look like a marimo anyway? It’s so tacky and it hurts my eyes. No wonder you don’t get any action, you’re just bitter and jealou of little old me,” said Sanji and Zoro rolled his eyes. But Sanji did press a button - it was the hair. He didn’t want… ugh! Zoro just walked away and decided that it was smarter for him to stay out of it, though it was very hard not to snap back at the other like he usually would. 

_ Take it calm, be calm!  _

It worked. Sanji eventually just gave up as well and soon found a new woman to flirt with. Zoro just rolled his eyes - what did they see in him anyway? 

* * *

“Aw, are you sure you’re not coming with us?” asked Luffy and his heart dropped a little bit. It was the next day, it was the weekend and Zoro was out with his two friends - Usopp and Luffy. Luffy was trying to get Zoro to come with him and Usopp to check out the new restaurant that was being opened. It was truly remarkable; Luffy went to all of the openings of the new restaurants. But then again, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to Zoro given his friend’s enormous appetite and his love for food. 

“Maybe another time,” said Zoro and Luffy sighed sadly. “I haven’t been to dojo in quite a while. It’s my day off, I don’t have to go to work so I will indulge myself completely,” said Zoro happily. “Kendo,” he said happily, his eyes glowing and Usopp smiled, but Luffy was still sulking about it. He thought it could be a fun outing with the three of them, but now Zoro wasn’t coming. How rude. Luffy pouted and then looked at Usopp.

“You’re not gonna leave me too, are you?” asked Luffy and Usopp laughed.

“Nope, I’m coming with you - you can count on me,” said Usopp happily and Luffy was smiling again. Good at least someone that he could count on. 

“Still if you change your mind, you can come and join us,” offered Luffy. Zoro did nod, but he knew that he wasn’t coming. It was a day off and he was going to spend it only with himself - it was going to be amazing. No annoying people, no curly eyebrowed asshole, nobody. Just him! Peace and quiet. Still, he made a vague promise to Luffy that he was going to join him and Usopp just in case he would change his mind about training. And just like that the three of them slowly went their separate ways, Zoro slowly walking to the direction of the dojo that he trained at, his smile growing as he was coming closer to it.

Because it was a lovely day, he decided to take the long way around there, walking slowly and he was taking in the scenery. It had been a while since they had such lovely weather, so he was going to indulge to the fullest, slowly making a turn to a much narrower street. He was about to continue his walk in peace when he heard someone yelling not too far away from him. Rational part of him told him to just let it be, but the morbid curiosity got the best of him and he ended up following the yelling, going around the corner and he narrowed his eyes when he came to the street - finally locating the yelling.

“Get out of my apartment!” shrieked a female voice and Zoro arched his brow, coming a bit closer. “Leave right this instant, I can’t believe…  _ why come over if you don’t-  _ Hey, are you even listening to me?” 

Ah, there was someone else. He was barely standing up on the floor and when the woman threw the jacket at him he ended up stumbling over his feet and he hit the floor. “I didn’t… what? Ugh, I shouldn’t have… my poor head, I’m-”

“You’re the worst,” she hissed.

“What did I-”

“Never call me again!” was the last thing that she said before slamming the door shut and Zoro narrowed his eyebrows.  _ Were they having a little domestic?  _ He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to let it go. He shouldn’t stick his nose into other people’s business, but the man didn’t look in too good of a condition, so Zoro decided to have a little look. Maybe he wasn’t feeling well after all. He was just sitting there and was kind of slumped over. Zoro just hoped that he wasn’t crying because if he did… he wouldn’t know how to deal with that. 

“Hey, um, are you okay?” asked Zoro as he slowly came closer and his jaw hit the floor when he saw who the oher was. It wasn’t… could it be… but how?

“Hah, Marimo?!” yelled Sanji and then stopped because he couldn’t really- He was terribly hung over and he just wanted to go home, but his home was so far away and he whined as he tried to get up. “No, it must be hallucination, I had too much-”

“Shut the fuck up,” said Zoro through his teeth and Sanji flinched.

“Oh, no, why are you here?” whined Sanji. “You’re real. Ugh, how lucky for me,” he then carried on and tried to at least crawl away from him. Zoro followed him. “Why are you following me? Just leave me alone!”

“You look like shit,” said Zoro and Sanji glared up.

“None of your business.”

“What happened to you? You got kicked out!” said Zoro. He was having too much fun with this, ugh! Sanji was tempted to kick that smug grin off the other’s face, but there was no way that he could actually even-

“You’re enjoying this,” said Sanji.

“Yes, it’s fun,” said Zoro.

“You’re a demon.”

“I’ve heard worse,” said Zoro and shrugged it off. “So what happened to the great Prince now?” asked Zoro and Sanji’s cheeks reddened.  _ He knew about his nickname, of course he did.  _ The idiot called himself a prince anyway and now it was more than a perfect time to make fun of him for that! “Your luck with the ladies-”

“Your voice is annoying,” grumbled Sanji. 

Sanji flinched when Zoro suddenly extended out his hand. Zoro bit his lip because it was pissing him off that the blonde wouldn’t take his hand.  _ All he wanted to have was a peaceful day, that was all.  _ Why was the universe making it so hard for him?! “Get up!” said Zoro when he finally snapped and Sanji didn’t have to be told twice, taking his hand and he stood up. Sanji’s vision was still a bit blurry and he grumbled. 

“Thirsty,” said Sanji.

“Come,” said Zoro. He was in a hurry to get rid of him. Sanji slowly followed - he had so many questions. Where were they going? Why was Marimo helping him? Sanji got even more suspicious when Zoro bought a bottle of water from the vending machine and handed it to him. “Here, drink,” barked Zoro.

Sanji took the water, but was still suspicious. “Why are you helping me?”

“I just don’t want to read it on the news that you’ve been found somewhere in a ditch,” said Zoro and Sanji arched his brow. “After all, you’re a great source of economy for our club after all. You keep the-”

“I shouldn’t have asked,” said Sanji quickly and shuddered. Zoro truly was a demon and he just made a few gulps of the water and immediately felt a bit better. Still he needed to sit down onto the sidewalk and he groaned. Sanji didn’t really look like he had any belongings on him so it made him wonder-

“Do you have your phone?” asked Zoro and Sanji panicked, quickly emptying his pockets, but there was nothing in there. Where was his wallet and phone?! Where-

“Shit, I lost-”

“I’ll call you taxi home and then I expect you to leave me alone,” whined Zoro. “And I’ll pay for it, yes,” he sighed under his breath when he remembered that Sanji was apparently pick-pocketed. Sanji was again almost in awe, but then remembered why Zoro was doing that and he was again in a bad mood. Still, at least now he was going to be soon home and it didn’t take Zoro too long for the taxi to finally come by. And with Sanji on his way home, Zoro could finally indulge in his day off. 

Zoro sighed as he watched the taxi drive away and he rubbed the back of his neck. “He’ll be fine, right?” asked Zoro and then just waved it off. “Ah, who cares,” he said as his grin was back. “Now finally - kendo, here I come!” said Zoro and the blonde finally left his mind. 


	2. Chapter 2

“You seem in a bad mood,” commented Nami and Zoro looked over to his side and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms on top of his chest and he scoffed. Was he in a bad mood? Well, yes, yes he was. Even more than per usual, grumbling under his breath as he emptied the rest of his beer bottle and then looked over to the others. Zoro’s classes were over for the day, so he decided to catch a quick dinner with his friends before he would be going over to the club. Honestly, he wasn't in the mood. 

On the opposite side of Zoro, there were sitting Nami and Robin, next to him was Tony - who usually went by the name of Chopper. Usopp and Luffy weren’t too far away, sitting by the table next to them and were in their own little bubble doing… exactly what? Zoro looked at them and he narrowed his eyes when he saw Usopp trying to protect his food from his friend and he smiled. Luffy did introduce him to a lot of new friends. He met Nami and Robin at the university though. They didn’t have the same major, but they did meet up in one of the elective courses that they all decided to take and the rest was history. Robin was a couple of years older, while Nami was a year younger than him, but they all got along pretty well. Chopper, on the other hand, was still in college and was Luffy’s friend before meeting with Zoro and the others.

“I _seem_ in a bad mood?” asked Zoro, his voice coming out way too rough than he first intended it to be and he just took in a deep breath and decided to calm down a little bit. Nami arched her brow and crossed her arms on top of her chest; ah, he was truly pissed off. She wondered what had happened to Zoro, he seemed fine a few days ago when they last saw each other. “I mean how can you tell that I’m in a bad mood?” he then carried on, trying to be a bit calmer, but it wasn’t really working out. 

“You just seem tense,” said Nami simply and Zoro looked up at her and scoffed again.

“Are you sure that you can _tell_ how I feel?” asked Zoro and Chopper was now also confused as he didn’t know what the hell had gotten into his friend. “I mean are you completely _sure_?” he asked and Nami just nodded, but was careful about it as she didn’t want to press any more buttons. 

“Um, yeah, there’s something definitely off about you,” chimed in Chopper and Zoro just huffed under his breath. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Robin in her calm manner and Zoro clicked with his tongue and then finally calmed down a little bit. He didn’t really talk about his problems, but a day before he went on this date with a girl that he met at the club and it didn’t work out. At all. He just ended up coming back to the apartment pissed off and he swore to himself that he was never going to another date. _Ever again._ Dating wasn’t for him, he was going to be alone and-

“Zoro was on a date,” said Luffy and Zoro rolled his eyes. _Now he was listening to their conversation?_ How great! Nami looked at Zoro, who was now looking down and he nodded eventually. 

“Didn’t work out?” she asked. 

“At. All,” grumbled Zoro in the end and he shuddered. “It started fine, but as the date progressed it just started going downhill,” said Zoro and then dropped his fork; he wasn’t in the mood to eat anymore. “I suppose I just wasn’t interesting enough for her,” he said and looked around the table, kind of desperate to hear the confirmation that he was indeed interesting and that the girl that he decided to take out on a dinner was _wrong_. “She said that I’m too stoic and too hard to read. Also that I’m too quiet,” he carried on and Nami huffed. “Can you believe that?!”

“Well, I wouldn’t call you boring, but you’re a more silent type,” said Nami and narrowed her eyes. Zoro cocked his head to the side and pressed his lips together. Oh, great, now she was on her side, was she?! “Forget about her,” said Nami in the end and waved it off. “There’s more fish in the sea, you’ll find someone that-”

“Fish?” asked Luffy again and Zoro looked at him. “I could really go for some sushi right now or-”

“Not what we were talking about at all,” said Nami and Luffy bowed his head down, looking like a little wounded puppy over there with Usopp. Zoro chuckled and he huffed under his breath. Well, even so, being with his friends helped after all. It was good to share, like people said. Since meeting Luffy and all of the others, he did change a lot. Rubbing the back of his neck, Zoro leaned back against his chair and clicked with his tongue again. Just because he was bad at expressing himself sometimes, it didn’t really mean that he was boring, did it? Nami was right, the girl was stupid.

Robin was quietly laughing at Luffy’s comment, but then she straightened herself up on the chair and looked at Zoro. “Nami is right though,” said Robin softly and Zoro nodded slowly. “Don’t worry about that one, she just wasn’t the right for you,” said Robin and Zoro was very glad that she said that. _It was all that he needed, really._ “You’ll find someone, don’t worry about it too much,” said Robin calmly and Zoro gave her a little, but bright smile.

“Thanks,” said Zoro.

Zoro was about to say something else, but then there was commotion coming from the table next to them and Zoro slowly looked over to the side, hoping that Usopp and Luffy weren’t being too- But he was mistaken, Luffy and Usopp were indeed bickering over at the next table and he didn’t even have enough energy to figure out what they were bickering about. But since it was the two of them, it was probably something silly or stupid. He rubbed his temples. He was used to it enough to let it go, but Nami was getting more and more pissed off there next to him.

“Guys, we are in public, can’t you act like adults?” she whined desperately to get them to stop, but Usopp and Luffy just looked at her, shrugged and went back to bickering. “This is the last time that I agree to come out with the two of you,” she said in the end, her voice loud. She didn’t like the people at them. “I’ll just pretend that I don’t know the two of you, it’s better-”

“That’s mean, Nami,” whined Usopp.

“Yes, we are friends, Nami,” whined Luffy and gave her his usual puppy eyed look, which made the red-head even more pissed off. “Friends, aren’t we?” he carried on, making Zoro laugh. Nami’s face was red from anger, yet she still couldn’t say no to Luffy. Luffy truly was the thing that kept them all so well connected. He could be a brat, but their little circle of friends wouldn’t have been the same without him and Zoro had deep respect for him. He was good and a kind person, who would have done everything for his friends. 

As Usopp and Luffy continued whining and Nami tried her very best to pretend that she didn’t know him, the others around the table started laughing, including Zoro who managed to crack up a little bit despite his bad mood before. 

* * *

The loud music was pounding in the club and Zoro was trying to get past people. He was again scoping the area, but mostly he was searching if the blonde idiot has showed up that day. He hadn’t really been to the club ever since the day that Zoro found him being thrown out of the apartment and he wondered what the hell happened. Perhaps he was just too embarrassed to ever show his face in their club ever again. He wouldn’t be wrong to be embarrassed, Zoro had every intent to rub it into his face for sure. _But he couldn’t since the other wasn’t showing up anymore._

Ugh!

Zoro was pissed off that he couldn’t rub it into his face any further. He had this whole plan, but now the idiot ruined it for him. Zoro hung out at the door for a bit longer, but since Sanji apparently wasn’t coming that evening either, he decided to go over to the back and see if everything was under control. However, after an hour or so, when he decided to come back to the front where the dance floor was, there was a bright blonde head sticking out from the bunch and the grin was back on his face.

 _So the idiot had the guts to show his face at their club again!_ Amused, Zoro rubbed his palms together and slowly came closer to the other. He was going to keep himself company a little bit by messing around with the other. It was going to be fun, was what he decided on and laughed. Still, for a little while Zoro decided to just stand back a little bit and observe the other, narrowing his eyes and he pursed his lips because he just didn’t get it. Sanji was always in the company of women - they didn’t mind his company? He wasn’t boring, was he? 

Sanji was way more expressive than him, Zoro knew that. The bright smile on Sanji’s face made Zoro wonder just how one could smile so much. Didn’t it get tiring? Was the other always in a good mood? Well, at least when Zoro wasn’t near .When he would get near, Sanji was always in a bad mood, but that wasn’t the point. He was just so… maybe it was jealousy that Zoro felt, it would be easier if he was more expressive, but even if he tried he just couldn’t. The woman that he was on the date earlier that week wasn’t the first one that told him that either.

Maybe it was for that exact reason that made Zoro just stand back from the whole dating world altogether. It was too much work. And not worth it at all. Grumbling under his breath, Zoro just shook his head and decided to see how the other was doing. And make fun of him, that was the main part that he was looking forward to for days now, rubbing his hands together and stepped closer to Sanji, whose face darkened as soon as he saw the green headed idiot approaching him. _Ugh, he didn’t even do anything this time._ He wasn’t even drunk _yet._ He was sitting by the bar and was chatting up a few ladies, but that was about it. 

“What do you want?” snapped as soon as Zoro stepped closer and didn’t even give him the time to say anything. Kind of caught off guard, Zoro just narrowed his eyes and then crossed his arms on top of his chest. “Leave me alone, I didn’t-”

“Not so friendly anymore, are you?” asked Zoro and Sanji scoffed. Was he ever friendly to him though? “So,” said Zoro and much to Sanji’s horror sat down next to him. Sanji looked to his other side and his jaw dropped to the floor when he saw that the two women that he was chatting up seemed to have lost interest in him and just walked away. Now they were together on the dance floor, dancing and just having a good time. And there was Marimo, being the same old cockblock as per usual. Gritting his teeth, Sanji glared at the other.

“Leave me alone,” grumbled Sanji.

Zoro didn’t seem to care. “I didn’t think you’d dare to show your face here ever again,” said Zoro and Sanji grumbled and decided to pay attention to his drink and not Marimo. Also maybe if he had more beer, he would be able to handle the green headed idiot more. Though he doubted it, scoffing again, but his cheeks were burning with anger. It was true though, he knew for a fact what was waiting for him when he would dare to show his face back at the club.

He knew that Zoro was just going to _enjoy_ making fun of him - that was one of the reasons why he was keeping himself from coming there. The other was that he needed a few days to recover. His pride and ego were deeply wounded and hurt, but he finally managed to recover. Because he knew what to expect, he got himself ready for _this._ Though he really wished that maybe Zoro wasn’t going to-

“I can do what I want,” said Sanji in the end and carried on by ordering himself another glass of drink, but as he was about to drink it, he heard Zoro over at the side making little comments, shaking his head. Sanji bit his lip and then glared at him, gritting his teeth. “What is it now?” hissed Sanji.

“I’d go easy on the alcohol if I were you,” said Zoro.

“Piss off,” said Sanji and just gulped the entire glass down proudly. 

“Hmm,” hummed Zoro.

“What?!”

“Remember what happened the last time? Do you think I’d jump in for help again? Don’t count on it, I was just doing you a-”

“I don’t need any help,” grumbled Sanji and then rubbed the back of his neck. But it was true, if he liked it or not, Zoro did help him out a lot the other day - despite how grim his intentions were. He did help him, he paid for his ride back home when his phone and wallet have gotten stolen. Still - he helped him and Sanji didn’t like it. He was going to pay back for that ride, he would hate to stay in his debt. Not to mention that Marimo would probably make it impossible for him to ever forget it.

“How much do I owe you?” asked Sanji and Zoro arched his brow.

“What?” 

“You paid for the taxi the other day,” said Sanji and Zoro clicked with his tongue. As if he was going to accept any money from the other. Why? _So that he could then rub it into his face that he was indeed a demon?_ Sanji wasn’t in a good condition the other day, Zoro couldn’t take his money now. He was pretty sure that the other had some kind of an ulterior motive and he just lifted his finger up and then shook his head.

“I don’t need it,” said Zoro and Sanji pressed his lips together.

“I will pay back to you,” said Sanji, but Zoro stood up and started walking away. Nope, he wasn’t going to listen to that, he had no interest in that.

“Forget it,” said Zoro.

“Marimo, where are you going?!” grumbled Sanji as he followed Zoro across the club. 

“I’m still on the clock, doing my job you see,” said Zoro and Sanji pressed his lips together and shook his head. He was pissed off. 

“You’re not going to-”

“Wanna get kicked out?” hissed Zoro and Sanji flinched. _Right, he could do that quite easily given his position and Sanji quickly backed away._ He cleared his throat, but even if he was going to give up for now, he was going to find a way to pay the idiot back. _If it was the last thing that he’d do._

“Stupid Marimo,” said Sanji and slowly walked away, going to the group of girls that just stepped inside of the club. Even if he was letting the matter go for now, he was going to find Zoro alone again and make him tell me how much he owed him. Zoro wasn’t the only stubborn one between the two of them.

* * *

Zoro’s shift ended early that day, so he decided to hurry up and go home. There was nothing else to do. The shitty blonde has annoyed him enough that day with following him around the club for more than an hour trying to get him to pay back for the taxi for the other day, but Zoro didn’t give in. Both of them were pretty stubborn. Still, after a while it seemed that Sanji finally gave up and Zoro had the rest of his shift free from that idiot. Or so he thought because the first thing that he saw when he stepped out of the club was no other than Sanji. He was leaning against the club, smoking and it seemed that he was waiting for someone. 

Ugh.

Zoro tried to make himself invisible, but Sanji of course noticed him. “Oi, Marimo,” was the first thing that he heard and he slowed down and turned around - what else was there to do? Gritting his teeth, Zoro exhaled.

“ _What?_ ”

Why was he there? Zoro could have sworn that he saw him leaving the club with someone earlier. “I’ve been thinking,” said Sanji and Zoro rolled his eyes.

“Uh-oh, that’s dangerous,” said Zoro and shook his head. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” joked Zoro around and even if it pissed Sanji off, he decided to ignore it for now.

“Anyway,” said Sanji and blew out the smoke. “If you don’t want me to pay you back in money then maybe I could pay you back some other way,” said Sanji and Zoro narrowed his eyes. What in the world was he talking about now?! “Interested?”

“Not really.”

“How about you come to my restaurant and I’ll cook you something. I’m sure it’ll be enough to cover the bill for the taxi,” offered Sanji and Zoro’s eyes widened. _Sanji had a restaurant?_ Zoro rubbed the back of his neck. That was kind of unexpected. And of course he wasn’t going to accept.

“You’re a cook?” kind of slipped out of Zoro’s mouth.

“Yep,” said Sanji proudly and smiled brightly. “Sous chef, actually,” said Sanji and Zoro just blinked a few times. Okay, he didn’t really know what to do with that piece of information. Also, he would have never thought that he was a cook. He looked more like a… hmm. He didn’t know how to explain it, but definitely not a cook and he wondered if he was any good. Sous chef? 

“Should I be impressed?” asked Zoro.

Sanji dropped his cigarette when he heard that and he was in disbelief. “Yes, a sous chef is the second one in command in the kitchen. I am one of the _youngest_ sous chefs out there,” grumbled Sanji and Zoro hummed. Ah, so he was a good cook then. Maybe not. “Look more impressed when I tell you this - I work at Baratie,” said Sanji and expected a reaction at least then.

He had to hear of them, no?!

“Um… congrats?”

“You have to be fucking kidding me,” said Sanji. “It’s one of the best known restaurants in the city. We have won so many rewards and… _don’t walk away, Marimo!_ Listen to me when I talk to you!” yelled Sanji as Zoro started walking away from him again. This idiot didn’t have even an ounce of respect for real cuisine. He probably just gobbled down fast food, didn’t he? Though from his built, Sanji would be more inclined to believe that it wasn’t so but-

“Stop following me,” said Zoro when he saw Sanji following him.

“Not until you agree to come to our restaurant,” said Sanji. “I will pay you back for the taxi ride one way or the other,” he said and Zoro waved it off.

“I don’t need your food, perv Cook,” said Zoro and Sanji gritted his teeth.

Sanji was inclined to continue following him, but he decided out of his pride that he wasn’t going to do that. He wasn’t going to _beg_ , but when he would see Zoro the next time in the club he was going to pursue his nagging - he was going to pay back for that taxi ride. 


	3. Chapter 3

Zoro was dreading when the time for his shift was coming - he wasn’t looking forward to going to the club at all. It’s been a week since the cook made him an offer to pay him back for cooking him a meal and Zoro didn’t agree to it. But the worst part was that Sanji was pestering him about every single day. Zoro tried to hide himself from Sanji when he was on clock, but it was kind of impossible as he was supposed to be working. Sanji was making his work very hard and no matter how hard he tried to ignore him, it was impossible. Sanji was really starting to get on his nerves and if he wasn’t going to stop any time soon he was going to ban him from the club  _ soon.  _ Though he knew that he didn’t have a strong enough reason to do that. Even if he went to the owner, he wouldn’t really be able to achieve much, so he was stuck with suffering. Was he really going to have to agree to that fucking meal just so that he could get the idiotic blond off his back? Probably. 

Zoro didn’t trust Sanji though, he was still pretty sure that he had an ulterior motive with inviting him over to his restaurant and offering him a free meal. Sure he was claiming that he wanted to pay him back for that taxi ride, but he was being a little bit too motivated to get him to come over, wasn’t he? So that got Zoro thinking - maybe Sanji wanted to poison him! One could never be too sure, maybe just enough to keep him from working for a few weeks. Zoro knew that it was a ridiculous thing to think about, but why else would he be so stubborn about it? It just didn’t make sense and he sighed sadly and looked around the room. 

Zoro was sitting in the living room, together with Usopp and Luffy, who were too busy with playing a game to actually pay attention to him and he grumbled under his breath. Now, Zoro wouldn’t just occasionally start talking about his problems.  _ He needed someone to see that he was suffering and then ask him what was wrong.  _ It was… complicated. Zoro sighed again, much louder this time and Luffy didn’t really pay attention, but Usopp chuckled over there at the side and he slowly looked towards the green-head. He was sighing a lot lately. Zoro told him about Sanji - at least to Usopp. 

“Yes, Zoro. What’s wrong?” asked Usopp in the end and Zoro straightened himself up on the sofa and then he pretended that nothing was wrong. Usopp knew what was coming, he was Zoro’s and Luffy’s roommate for over a year now and in the past year he had to get to know Zoro quite a lot. He appeared to be stoic, but deep down he was a dork like the rest of them. It was one of the reasons why they got along so well and he crossed his arms on top of his chest when he saw the frown on Zoro’s face.

“Nothing’s wrong,” said Zoro, but sighed again and that time he got Luffy’s attention as well. Luffy placed down the game controller and turned his face to Zoro, who was suddenly under the spotlight and he huffed under his breath.  _ Maybe he overdid it just a little bit.  _ Clearing his throat, Zoro shrugged it off.

“Zoro?” asked Luffy.

“It’s about that cook, isn’t it?” asked Usopp and Zoro clicked with his tongue. Luffy got interested in the topic of the conversation. Unlike Usopp, he didn’t really know what was going on and he arched his brow. Eventually, Zoro nodded and Usopp placed his arms on top of his chest and shook his head.  _ This cook sure was very annoying, Zoro wouldn’t stop talking about him.  _

“Which cook?” asked Luffy and Zoro bit his lip.

“There’s this annoying guy that keeps coming to the club where I work,” said Zoro and his face reddened with anger. Just talking about Sanji made him angry and he huffed under his breath. “He keeps coming over and he’s getting in trouble. He’s one of the main reasons why I’m needed there, anyway,” said Zoro and Luffy nodded. “A few weeks ago he got really hammered,” said Zoro. “And I happened to catch him in the act of being thrown out of someone’s house,” said Zoro and rubbed the back of his neck.  _ He was beginning to realise that helping the idiot was a big mistake.  _ “Long story short - out of pity I paid for his taxi and now he wants to pay me back but I refuse to accept anything from him,” said Zoro and Luffy narrowed his eyes.

“Why not?” asked Luffy, not really getting the full picture. 

“I mean it makes sense to me. Just accept the money and move on, Zoro. So will he and he will stop pestering you about it,” said Usopp.

“I refused money from him,” said Zoro and then gritted his teeth. “So he invited me to his restaurant - who would have thought such an idiot is a cook, huh?” grumbled Zoro and placed his arms on top of his chest. “So instead of money, he offered me a meal and now he won’t stop pestering me about it. It’s so annoying, all evening that I’m there he’s stalking me around the club,” said Zoro and before he was able to say anything more, Luffy chimed in because he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.

“He offered you free food and you refused it?!” shrieked Luffy. Zoro rolled his eyes - he knew that he should have expected something like that from his friend. Usopp was laughing at the side and Zoro glared at him. It was enough to make Usopp stop laughing, but as the other turned around, Zoro was sure that he was still snickering.  _ Just silently.  _ Ugh, this was the worst. He needed Nam or Robin to-

“It’s the matter of pride, Luffy. I can’t-”

“Free food, Zoro,  _ free  _ food,” said Luffy. “Oh, forget it, let me go there instead of you if you don’t wanna,” said Luffy and his eyes lit up. Zoro narrowed his eyes and shook his head. Luffy pouted.

“You think he’d offer me food from the goodness of his heart?” asked Zoro and Luffy shrugged. “No, we don’t get along at all. He’s there with the sole purpose to annoy me. I’ve thrown him out of the club more than on one occasion, so I guarantee you that he doesn’t like me either,” said Zoro and Luffy’s frown was getting deeper. “What if he wants to poison me? I don’t trust him. At all,” finished Zoro and Luffy started laughing. Usopp tried really hard, but in the end he started laughing as well.

“He won’t poison you,” said Luffy and Zoro grumbled. His anger was getting worse.

“How do you know?!”

“He’s just trying to pay you back in another way since you’re being so stubborn,” said Usopp in the end. “You really should stop assuming the worst in people, y’know?” he asked and Zoro was staring at him. 

“Usopp’s right, Zoro,” said Luffy in the end, but Zoro didn’t say anything after all. His cheeks were red and hot - he was too angry to even look at his friends. Why was everyone on the cook’s side? Why wouldn’t anyone side with him, huh?! Well, it didn’t matter to Zoro really because he didn’t care what others thought. He knew that he was right. His theory was correct and he wasn’t backing down. Also he wasn’t going to Sanji’s restaurant. No way in hell!

* * *

Zoro was supposed to be working, but instead of working he was playing the game of Tom and Jerry - he was desperate to get away from Sanji, who was again trying to get him alone. It was exhausting and honestly Zoro was very close to cracking. Sanji was a lot more stubborn and unfortunately Zoro didn’t have nerves from steel, grumbling under his breath, but then he exhaled. It seemed that he managed to get rid of Sanji, but as he allowed his guard to be down just for a minute or so, someone crept from behind him and Zoro yelled out loud when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he quickly jumped away and turned around.

Zoro’s eyes darkened when he saw Sanji standing behind him and he groaned, trying to get away, but Sanji was just as quick and in the end Zoro stayed put, but was still looking for the first chance that he was going to get to run away from there. Biting into his lip, Zoro narrowed his eyes and then folded his arms on top of his chest and shook his head - he was going to kick Sanji out. That was it and the rest of his problems were solved for that evening. He would have to throw him out every day and then it would all be solved. 

“Marimo!” said Sanji and the grin upon his lips pissed Zoro off. He didn’t like the nickname that the idiot chose for him.  _ Marimo, yeah right!  _ Taking a deep breath, Zoro tried to move past Sanji again, but it wasn’t working out.

“Move, perv, or I will throw you out,” said Zoro and Sanji shrugged.

“I’ll wait for you outside for your shift to be over,” said Sanji simply.

Crap, that was the last thing that Zoro wanted to see happen. He was already tired from the long day and when his shift was going to be over, he would only want to go home. Knowing that the blonde idiot would again be waiting for him there just made him want to- “Why won’t you leave me alone? You’re harassing me every day, go flirt with your ladies,  _ Prince, _ ” said Zoro in the end and Sanji laughed. 

“You’re making this harder for yourself, you know?” asked Sanji. “You just have to agree and I will leave you alone,” said Sanji and Zoro shook his head.  _ Two could play the game - Zoro wasn’t backing down.  _ He was also stubborn and Zoro narrowed his eyes, scanning the other’s face and he exhaled. That stupid grin was annoying the hell out of him and why were his eyebrows so curly? Everything about him was annoying as fuck.

“I know your plan,” said Zoro and Sanji’s eyes widened a little bit. 

“What plan?”

“As if you would invite me over to your restaurant and offer me  _ free _ food out of the goodness of your heart,” said Zoro and Sanji opened his mouth to say something, but Zoro wouldn’t let him talk. “But I’m onto you - you’re trying to poison me,” said Zoro. “Sure, then you would be able to enjoy yourself here in the club without me around and-” started Zoro, but then Sanji burst out into loud laughter and startled Zoro a little bit.  _ Why was he laughing so hard?!  _ He didn’t-

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Sanji and then shook his head, arms wrapped around his stomach as he couldn’t stop laughing. Zoro was kind of taken back as he watched the other laughing so hard and he blinked a few times.  _ Ah, so he could make that kind of face as well?  _ Zoro was watching his face and when Sanji finally collected himself and looked up, he quickly glanced away. “Ah, you’ve given me such a great laugh,” said Sanji and patted Zoro’s shoulder again. The other gave him an offended look and Sanji quickly pulled his hand back. “Sorry, sorry,” said the cook. “I haven’t laughed this hard in a while,” he carried on and Zoro narrowed his eyes.

“I-”

“If I wanted to poison you, do you think I would give you an official invitation to our restaurant?” asked Sanji and Zoro didn’t say anything. The more that he thought about it now, the more he was aware of how stupid his theory was and he his cheeks were getting red.  _ Sanji and all of the others had a point!  _ Zoro felt like the biggest moron on the planet at the moment and he wanted to run away. “You’re hilarious,” said Sanji.

“You’re stupid.”

“So, will you come?” asked Sanji. “Now that you have my promise that I  _ won’t _ poison you,” said Sanji and continued cracking up. Argh, Zoro knew that Sanji would never let him forget this! And if he wouldn’t agree, he would probably tell the others working in the club. And then they wouldn’t-  _ Fine, he was going!  _ It was the only way that he was going to have some peace. 

“Will you stop nagging me afterwards?” grumbled Zoro.

“Yep,” said Sanji.

“Fine,” groaned Zoro. 

“Amazing,” said Sanji and clasped his hands together. “Tomorrow’s your day off, I’ll be expecting you,” said Sanji and walked away. Zoro’s jaw hit the floor when Sanji said that -  _ how did he know that it was his day off tomorrow?!  _

* * *

“ _ After ten meters turn right. _ ”

Zoro gritted his teeth and he shook his head - this was impossible. He was doing this for almost two hours now and he was officially and royally pissed off every way possible. In the evening, Zoro decided to go to the cook’s restaurant for dinner. It made sense - he would get a lovely dinner. Well, he hoped that he would be able to get a decent meal, at least. He didn’t have too many hopes, even if he did look up the restaurant and saw that everyone had nothing but praise for the food and the staff there.  _ So maybe the cook wasn’t lying after all.  _

_ Baratie _ \- there was only one restaurant that went by that name in town and Zoro managed to get the address of it online. He and Sanji didn’t really have any plans at what time he would get there, but it didn’t really matter. Not anymore, at least. He was running late and he was pretty sure that the restaurant had closed by now, which was a plus in Zoro’s mind, but he was still determined to get over there. “I should have taken a taxi,” whined the green head as he tried his best to follow the instructions that the GPS function on the phone was giving him, but it didn’t work out… at all. It was almost two hours in and he still didn’t manage to find the fucking restaurant. 

It was kind of remarkable that Zoro had the map with him and he still managed to get lost. It was something that he wasn’t too proud of, but he was never good at directions. Ever since he was young he was always getting lost if he didn’t have someone with him and his cheeks were already red with embarrassment. It wasn’t his fault, the freaking GPS was broken! “If I ever find the fucking restaurant, I will murder the cook. Fucking idiot, I could be home now. But no, I’m here trying to find his shitty restaurant,” continued Zoro his little rant as he tried his best to follow-

“ _ Turn left. _ ”

Dead end. Again.

“Fuck my life!” whined Zoro and let out a defeated groan.

Around the same time, Sanji was getting ready to call it a day at the restaurant. Everyone has already left and he was the only one left in the kitchen. He was just prepping a little bit for the next day, cleaning up a few of the last things and then he would also be on his way back home. Usually he would be on his way over to the club, but he was kind of expecting Zoro to join him at the restaurant. Marimo never showed up and he felt a little bit deflated; he should have known that the other just said that so that he would be left alone. Still-

Sanji was cleaning up one of the counters when he took a little peek through the window and his eyes widened when he saw someone wandering around the street, passing by the restaurant and he clicked with his tongue, humming along. Ah, so he came over after all! Sanji kind of expected him to show up when they were still open, but he could work like this too! He just wanted to pay him back. However, Zoro then walked past the restaurant and Sanji was  _ confused.  _ Okay, so he wasn’t coming? Zoro soon showed up again, now coming by from the other side of the street and he snorted. 

Zoro was staring down at the phone and it took a while for Sanji to connect all the dots. Zoro had a grumpy expression on his face as he was trying to find the… restaurant? While he was standing actually next to it? Sanji snorted and then he waited for a little while. Zoro disappeared around the corner, but was soon back and the cook started laughing again. In the end, Sanji took pity on the other and quickly rinsed his hands under the running water and quickly stepped over to the front door and get Marimo inside - it was late and he was probably starving, no? Not that he was worried or anything.

“I will cut you, don’t test me!” grumbled Zoro, fighting with his phone. Gripping onto it tight, Zoro was tempted to throw it into a wall. “Piece of shit, you don’t work at all,” he carried on and then he heard a snort, looking up and his eyes widened when he saw the cook leaning against the wall. What was-

“You decided to come after all,” said Sanji and Zoro looked a bit more up and saw it -  _ Baratie.  _ Written in big, bold letters. He walked past this spot a few times already and he didn’t see it?! Zoro gritted his teeth and quickly tucked his phone into the pocket of his pants. “We’re closed already, by the way,” said Sanji and Zoro was in a good mood.  _ Great, that meant that he could go back home!  _ “What took you so long?” asked Sanji even though he had a hunch why Zoro was running late.

“I forgot about it,” lied Zoro.

“Ah,” said Sanji and smiled wider. “So it has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve watched you wander around the place like a lost puppy for the last few minutes?” asked Sanji and thus pressed the right button, making Zoro snap.  _ So he was watching him from afar?!  _ But of course, he could make fun of him more now!

“I wasn’t lost! This damn thing doesn’t work,” grumbled Zoro and pointed to his phone. Ah, not only that he was grumpy, but he was also hungry. He was walking for a long time and he really wanted a nice and warm meal. But no! He was going to wait until he would be home! “Also since you’re already closed, I can turn around and go back home. I don’t need you or your cooking, I’ll be-” 

And that was when Zoro’s stomach betrayed him, grumbling loudly. Zoro flinched and slowly turned around only to see Sanji quietly laughing. “Come on in, I’ll prepare you something quickly,” said Sanji and that was all that he said before he stepped inside. Zoro was sure that he was going to say  _ no.  _ A firm and very determined  _ no.  _ But then his stomach growled again and he just dropped his head down and followed Sanji inside, looking very defeated. 

* * *

Zoro brought a chair from the dining area back into the kitchen and he was sitting silently as he watched Sanji behind the counter, arching brow when he saw the other putting on a  _ pink _ apron? “Pink?” kind of slipped out of Zoro’s mouth. “With a panda,” stated Zoro and tried not to burst out laughing. One stern look from Sanji kept his mouth shut. 

“So?”

“No, no, it-it suits you,” said Zoro, trying his best to hold back his laughter.

“Want to lose your tongue, Marimo?” asked Sanji as he grabbed the knife and Zoro just shook his head. “As I thought. Sit there and be quiet,” said the cook, Zoro rolling his eyes and he was just glaring at the other.  _ Well, why was he acting like this?  _ He didn’t want to be there either, so the cook should be quiet. He was the one that got him to come out there in the first place.

“So,” said Zoro, carefully watching Sanji frying the vegetables in the wok. Oh, it smelled so good and his stomach made itself sound present again, making Sanji chuckle. “Don’t laugh, cook, I am freaking starving. I’ve been trying to search this place for two hours so excuse me,” barked Zoro. Yep, his grumpy side was definitely showing more when he was hungry and Sanji looked up.

“Two hours? Wow,” said Sanji. “You’re really terrible at following directions,” said Sanji.

“It’s not my fault, this part of town is weird. The streets look weird,” grumbled Zoro.

“Ah, yes, of course. We have weird streets, I got it,” said Sanji and laughed. It was amazing how in denial he was.  _ He was just embarrassed.  _ “Well, don’t you worry,” said Sanji. “You’ll be soon well-fed - in no time,” said Sanji and waggled his eyebrows. Zoro was kind of mesmerised by the curly brows… they were natural, yes? Or maybe- “I do hope that pasta is up to your taste. I premade some today for tomorrow, so-”

“I’m in the mood for anything, really,” said Zoro and Sanji smiled. “Is there booze?”

“Sure, I can get you some,” said Sanji and huffed under his breath. They didn’t talk much, Zoro was more fascinated by watching Sanji cook; he really knew what he was doing. Zoro wasn’t much of a cook himself - he knew how to make a few basic things, but that was about it. 

“Just so we’re clear,” started Zoro.

“Hmm?”

“Just this  _ one _ meal and we’re even, right? I mean then you’ll stop following me around and you’ll leave me alone,” said Zoro and Sanji chuckled.

“Yes, yes,” said Sanji. “You made this harder on yourself, you see. If you would have just allowed me to pay you back in the first place, both of us wouldn’t be here and I guess would be much happier about it,” said Sanji and Zoro nodded.

“Yeah, I’m starting to realise my mistake,” said Zoro and Sanji looked at him.

“Ah, he admits he was wrong,” teased Sanji.

“Shut up,” muttered Zoro under his breath. Zoro was literally drooling not a few minutes later and he was getting impatient. “Smells good,” said Zoro and Sanji hummed in agreement.

“Wait till you taste it,” he said with a wink.

“You’re truly so full of yourself,” said Zoro and wrinkled his nose. 

It was awkward, but Zoro wasn’t really in the mood for talking. Luckily for him, Sanji did keep his promise and it didn’t take  _ too _ long for the meal to be ready. Zoro couldn’t wait to dig in. Sanji prepared it all really  _ fancy.  _ Zoro didn’t care, but still it looked  _ pretty.  _ It was the fanciest plate of pasta that he had seen so far. Sanji went to grab a bottle of fancy whine as well - it sounded fancy to Zoro at least. Sounded French.

Sanji poured both of them some of the wine, Zoro’s eyes glued on the plate and Sanji laughed. “ _ Bon appetit, _ ” said Sanji with a snort and Zoro nodded in silence, grabbed the fork and then just dug in. 

Zoro could feel Sanji’s eyes on him, they were studying him and  _ expecting.  _ Zoro decided not to give him much of any reaction, but when he got a bite of that pasta a moan left his mouth without his consent. “Damn, that’s good,” he carried on. It… it was really good. Damn, he didn’t think that the perv was actually any good, but that tasted so good. Best freaking food he had in a-

“Right?!”

Zoro looked up and Sanji giggled. He was wearing a happy, excited smile. Different from the ones that he saw him using on the girls in the club. That one was sleazy, but this smile was genuine. Pure? It was  _ real _ and it was like a dart shot through Zoro’s heart. 

It wasn’t just the food and the wine warming up his body.

His heart went  _ thump-tha-thump-tha…thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump! _

…  _ Fuck.  _


	4. Chapter 4

Zoro was beyond frustrated - Sanji  _ lied.  _ Sanji lied to him when he said that he wasn’t trying to poison him, grumbling under his breath. Going over that evening to Baratie was a big mistake, he shouldn’t have gone there. Ever since that  _ dinner  _ he was feeling strange as hell and it was starting to really piss him off. Zoro didn’t know what the damn cook put into his food, but he decided to blame him for the way that he was feeling. He couldn’t forget that smile, no matter how hard he tried. It was on his mind - always - it was the only thing that he was able to think of lately and it was seriously starting to mess with his head.  _ What the fuck was it supposed to mean?  _ Not only that, but he caught himself talking about Sanji more in front of his friends and he had to keep reminding himself not to bring Sanji up and how annoying he was every minute or two. Or they would get suspicious about it.

The current situation wasn’t good at all - he couldn’t focus in class at all. It’s been a couple of weeks since he visited Sanji’s restaurant, but ever since then he only saw him a few times - he suddenly stopped coming to their club so often. Why? It wasn’t like Zoro was worried or anything  _ and _ he also  _ didn’t _ miss him, but it made him wonder. Sanji was a regular that suddenly stopped coming. Did he finally run out of money, huh? The amounts that he was spending every evening were huge. If not on himself, then he would buy the other women drinks upon drinks and he huffed under his breath.

But it was kind of boring now that he didn’t have anyone to mess around with in the club. The evenings there were dull and boring. So, somewhere in the back of his mind, Zoro was hoping that Sanji would again start coming to the club more often.  _ Or maybe he met someone serious and didn’t have the need to keep on coming to hook up with women.  _ Who knew! It was none of Zoro’s business and he didn’t care even if he was thinking about it constantly.

It was highly annoying. Zoro huffed under his breath when he barely blocked Mihawk’s attack and he finally snapped back to reality. He was at the dojo, training, but he couldn’t really focus and he could see that the other looked kind of pissed off. Could he tell that he was spacing out? Probably - Mihawk was the strongest swordsman that he knew around. It was a great honour that he earned himself a spot at his dojo, so he knew that he shouldn’t take it for granted. And he didn’t, but this time he couldn’t focus no matter how much he tried and he gripped tightly onto the both wooden sword that he had in his hands and before he knew what was going on, Mihawk striked again and thus knocked the third wooden sword that he had in his mouth onto the floor.

Zoro clicked with his tongue and quickly jumped back, but Mihawk didn’t give him the time to pick up the sword, thus his usual  _ three sword style _ was over. Still, he was more than skilled with only two. Though there was no way that he could actually beat Mihawk - at least not yet. His plan was to be one day as strong as him - and stronger - so that he could beat him in a fair fight. He was already the best student that Mihawk had at his dojo and Zoro was very well aware of it. He had his fair share of medals from competitions to show off, but it was something that he didn’t really brag about often. 

He wasn’t like that cook who was bragging about being the youngest sous chef and…  _ fuck, he was thinking about him again!  _ Shaking his head, Zoro managed to finally get Sanji out of his mind properly for the time being and he turned around, eyes wide when he saw that Mihawk approaching. Zoro knew him well enough to at least predict some of his moves, so he swiftly moved over to the side and decided to go in for a strike as well, but getting to Mihawk wasn’t going to be easy and he gritted his teeth, glancing over to the older man and he huffed under his breath.

Mihawk had his usual composed look on his face, but he could also tell that he wasn’t too pleased with his performance that day and neither was Zoro himself by how easily Mihawk was able to disarm him before. Luckily he managed to pick up the swords again and the fight could continue, but  _ still.  _ He was ashamed of it, gritting his teeth, gripping the swords again, now running over to Mihawk straight on - no hesitation in his eyes at all. He was determined to get a strike. 

The corners of Mihawk’s lips curled up just a little bit - he got him where he wanted. Their swords clashed, Zoro’s breathing hard and uneven as he tried to  _ hit _ Mihawk, but the other was able to block all of his attacks, leaving Zoro frustrated, angry and tired. Wearing down the opponent, huh? It wasn’t a trick that Zoro was a stranger to, so he knew that he needed to come up with another tactic. Going from the back? Attacking him when he least expected to? But how?! Mihawk wasn’t-

“Hurry up, Roronoa,” ordered Mihawk and Zoro glanced at him. 

“Don’t-don’t worry, I’m just trying to buy you some time before I take you down,” said Zoro, panting hard as he was getting tired. The training has been going on for quite a while and he knew that he was nowhere near with bringing the other down. Still, he wasn’t going to let him know that, was he? It was the matter of pride and ego and Zoro had both of that… in  _ enormous  _ amounts. 

“Hah,” scoffed Mihawk.

Zoro tried bringing Mihawk done, but the other had enough of it. Just a few seconds later and Zoro was on the floor, all of his swords laying on the floor far away from him and he angrily banged his fists against the wooden floor and he covered his face. His cheeks were red with embarrassment and anger. He was so pissed off at himself that he allowed Mihawk to defeat him so easily. It was much faster than usually and he hated it. Mihawk was standing close to him and he placed his hands on top of his chest. Ah, he looked disappointed? Zoro didn’t blame him.

“You’re getting weak, Roronoa,” was everything that he said before he left the room and Zoro slowly sat up and angrily banged his fists against the floor again. Out of frustration he pulled on his hair and grumbled.

“Damn it,  _ damn it, _ ” he said and closed his eyes.

This needed to stop.

* * *

Zoro’s eyes were like a hawk, carefully looking around the club. He was sitting by the bar and even if he wasn’t supposed to be drinking on the clock, he still ordered himself a bottle of beer -  _ he needed it after the days he was having lately.  _ Zoro wondered if the perv cook was going to show up that day. Zoro made a big gulp of his drink and then huffed under his breath; he felt completely humiliated. Mihawk whooped his ass and he wanted to get drunk and forget about it but he couldn’t while he was still on the clock. Everything sucked! He was miserably looking at his glass of beer and groaned, biting into his lip and he carefully looked around.

Standing over by the side of the club was Sanji.  _ He finally showed up. _ Zoro ignored how his heart made a little jump of excitement and suppressed all of those feelings down. Hide them, ignore them. He wasn’t happy to see Sanji there, not at all! Forcing back a little grin, he emptied his glass and then studied the other a bit closely and his eyes widened when he saw what Sanji was wearing. He always came into the club being  _ well-dressed, _ but his looks were on a completely another level that evening and he blinked a few times.

Just like per usual, Sanji was wearing dress trousers, but for some reason they looked  _ very _ good on him that evening. At least in Zoro’s opinion. Zoro’s eyes were travelling up Sanji’s long legs and he gulped, feeling his throat going dry. Sanji was wearing an orange button up shirt and a black vest over it.  _ Orange shirt?!  _ Usually Zoro would think that it was tacky, but on Sanji it looked good. Like, really good. Zoro huffed under his breath and tried not to think how tight fitted that vest was. Or how tightly those dress trousers were hugging Sanji’s-

Zoro’s body started heating up because the more that he tried  _ not _ to think about how good the cook looked it had a completely different effect. All that he could think about was that damn vest, fitting Sanji’s slim figure perfectly and the way that his shirt was unbuttoned a little bit, bearing his chest just a little bit was enough to make Zoro’s head spin. Just a few buttons more and Zoro would be able to see-

Looking away, Zoro stood up abruptly and despite all the common sense that was in him, he approached Sanji. Being drawn in like a moth to a flame, Zoro couldn’t keep away. He put on his usual cocky grin that he had on when he was talking to Sanji and he snorted when he came closer to Sanji. “Ah, you decided to show up today?” asked Zoro and Sanji turned to him, narrowing his eyes. “Long time no see,” he said, trying to laugh it off, but it didn’t come that way. Sanji arched his brow and then snorted.

“What? Did you miss me, Marimo?” asked Sanji because he was kind of caught off guard that the first thing that he saw when he came into the club was Zoro. Usually he was running away from him, but now he was approaching him on his own. Weird, definitely something was wrong. He could smell alcohol on the other, so maybe he was just drunk?

“Pft, didn’t miss you,” said Zoro. “The last few weeks have been a joy, you barely showed up,” said Zoro, running his mouth away. “Do you know how peaceful it was? Heaven, but now you’re here again and I can already smell trouble,” said Zoro and Sanji gently patted his shoulder, but still held his distance.

“Aw, so you were bored without me,” said Sanji and Zoro’s cheeks turned red. 

“No, I wasn’t,” barked Zoro and Sanji chuckled. The way he said that was way too defensive, anyone - including Sanji - would be able to see right through his lies.

“Anyway,” said Sanji, his eyes travelling over to the dance floor and he was already picking out the woman that he was going to spend the evening with - at least it seemed like this to Zoro. “I’ll see you around,” said Sanji and Zoro narrowed his eyes but before he was able to come back with a snarky comment, Sanji was already walking away from him, his back turned to him and Zoro just glanced down. 

His thoughts were all jumbled up!

* * *

“Ah, one more,” whined Zoro as he ordered himself another round of beer and he huffed under his breath. He didn’t feel like working, he didn’t feel like anything. He just wanted to go home - he was tired, biting into his lip. However, there was soon someone that sat down next to him over at the bar and Zoro’s eyes widened when he looked over to the side and saw Sanji sitting down next to him. Now what? Zoro was in no mood to even stand up and walk away, he hoped that the blonde idiot wasn’t going to harass him again, grumbling under his breath. “Why are you following me again?” snapped Zoro and Sanji shrugged, looking completely innocent.  _ Too innocent? _

“I’m here to grab a drink,” said Sanji simply and Zoro scoffed.

“Who is the unlucky lady that you managed to manipulate into liking you?” asked Zoro and Sanji laughed softly and shrugged.

“No one,” said Sanji and Zoro arched his brow.  _ Was he serious? _

“That’s odd,” said Zoro and then hummed. “Ah, I assume that they all finally opened their eyes and saw that you’re nothing but a sleazy perv,” carried Zoro on and Sanji’s laughter slowly died out, annoyance kicking in. Marimo was always so annoying and rude to him, ugh! 

“Not in the mood,” said Sanji simply. “Besides, since when does it matter to you?” asked Sanji and looked over to the side where Zoro was sitting. Zoro’s cheeks reddened once more and he looked away.  _ It didn’t matter to him at all.  _ He didn’t care who the cook was screwing, he was merely just making a comment. 

“It doesn’t really.”

“Uh-huh,” said Sanji and a sly smirk spread across his face. “I think that today I will just sit back and enjoy the view,” said Sanji and looked around the club. Zoro arched his brow and looked around the place - there were many people so he didn’t really get where Sanji was looking. Not that it mattered. “What are you having, by the way?” asked Sanji and glanced over to Zoro’s empty glass and the green head arched his brow. 

“Beer?”

“Oh, good,” said Sanji and smiled happily. “One for me then too,” he said as he glanced over to the bartender, who gave him a little nod and Sanji’s drink was soon coming. Zoro was completely preplexed as he didn’t know what to do.  _ Sanji was going to sit there and have a casual drink with him?  _ Zoro blinked a few times and looked over to his glass, holding in his breath because he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t in the mood to be chatting up with him. Sanji told him that it was over after he would have that meal at Baratie, but…  _ well, Zoro was the one that approached him first that day. _

Well, fuck. Zoro was going against his own rules, clearing his throat and he looked at Sanji, who was happily chugging down the beer. “Oi, go slow, cook,” teased Zoro, Sanji flinching when he said that and his cheeks reddened with embarrassment. Yep, he was never going to let him forget that. What a dick, honestly! And to think that he cooked such a yummy dinner for him the other day. He was still poking fun at him for that one time! Never again was he getting so hammered around Marimo ever again.

“Shut up, Marimo,” snapped back Sanji and Zoro laughed. 

A couple of drinks later and conversation between Zoro and Sanji wasn’t as hostile anymore, Sanji slowly letting go the guard that he had put around himself when he was around Zoro and he was happily humming along as they were talking about random stuff. “How come you’re a cook?” asked Zoro out of the blue and Sanji narrowed his eyes. “I mean you don’t look like a cook,” said Zoro and Sanji snorted.

“What do I look like then?”

“I honestly thought you were a pimp or-”

“A- I- You’re an idiot,” said Sanji and tried not to laugh.

“I mean do you blame me?” asked Zoro and looked up and down Sanji again. “I mean who the hell wears an orange button up shirt. Too extra, too extra,” said Zoro and Sanji pouted, looking down into his glass and pouted. Ah, it was empty again. And Marimo was insulting his fashion sense? 

“Says the one with bright green hair,” shot Sanji back. Zoro opened his mouth to say something, but he quite quickly closed them again -  _ the perv had a point.  _ Sanji grinned when he saw that he successfully quieted down the other and he hummed along. “But, yes, I’ve always wanted to be a cook. I’ve always loved cooking. Never thought I’d actually make it,” he carried on, kind of opening up to Zoro without realising it himself. Alcohol did wonders on Sanji’s tongue - completely untied it.

“Well,” said Zoro. “You’re good at it,” he said and realised that he complimented the other. “Kind of,” he quickly added and Sanji snorted.

“Fuck off, I’m the best,” said Sanji, but didn’t mean it as an insult, laughing along and a smile tugged on Zoro’s lips as well. “And what is that you do? I’d say that you’re-”

“You’re looking at a future best swordsman in the whole entire world,” said Zoro proudly and Sanji arched his brow. Sanji didn’t seem to get it and Zoro rolled his eyes, clicking with his tongue. “I train kendo,” he said in the end, literally having to spell it out for him and Sanji looked up and down and nodded. Ah, interesting, interesting. 

“Cool,” deadpanned Sanji and Zoro narrowed his eyes.

“Look more impressed,” said Zoro and Sanji hummed along. “I’m the best one out there,” said Zoro. “I-I have won a lot of competitions,” he carried on, suddenly bragging about his accomplishments in kendo - something that he was very against and he quickly stopped talking and glanced away. “Doesn’t matter, anyway,” he said, glancing over to the side and Sanji started laughing out loud.

“You’re an interesting guy,” said Sanji and Zoro scoffed.

“Pft, tell that to the woman I went out with,” said Zoro and gulped down the rest of his drink, but nodded over to the bartender to keep them coming. 

“What?” asked Sanji suddenly and Zoro flinched.

“N-nothing!”

“If it’s dating advice that you need, I can help you out!” said Sanji happily and then nodded. 

“No, thank you.”

“It’s very hard to figure out ladies sometimes, you see,” said Sanji and Zoro looked at him.

“Well, if you’re a pervert then no wonder-”

“Then be alone,” spat back Sanji and Zoro laughed.

“One more?” asked Zoro and pointed to the drink that just came and he looked down. He had enough as it was already. He was talking way too much and he was way too nice to Marimo, so he knew that he had more than enough. Sanji thought about it and then he giggled - perhaps one more wouldn’t hurt though?

“Only one or old man will kill me if I come back hammered again,” said Sanji and laughed.

“Old man?”

Sanji didn’t reply and instead he made a big gulp of his drink, feeling it heat up his body even more and by the end of the glass, Sanji’s face was red, body overheating and he was fanning himself. “It-it’s hot,” whined Sanji and Zoro looked over to him. It was? Zoro didn’t really feel any change of the temperature in the club, but Sanji quickly took off his west, unbuttoned two more buttons and folded his sleeves up as high as they went and then he huffed. Felt much better, but still!

“Phew,” whined Sanji and then giggled, looking at his half empty glass and hummed. 

Zoro’s eyes were glued on Sanji. Zoro couldn’t look away - the two more unbuttoned buttons managed to reveal much more and Zoro shuddered, biting into his lip. Sanji rubbed the back of his neck, Zoro’s face was getting red as well. He was only staring at him and Sanji slowly leaned over to Zoro, trying to get a closer look at his face. As he leaned over, Zoro’s eyes followed the shirt, which exposed so much more and he almost moaned because  _ fucking hell Sanji was-  _

“Marimo, you doing okay there?” asked Sanji, reaching up with his hand, but before he managed to touch Zoro, the other leaned back and nodded.

“A-am fine,” said Zoro.  _ As if, he wasn’t okay at all!  _ “I need to, um, go,” said Zoro and Sanji pouted but then looked over at the clock and saw that it was getting late after all. He and Zoro did chat for quite a bit. 

“Aw, okay,” said Sanji and reached into his pocket for the wallet, but when he couldn’t feel it in there he froze. “Shit!” shrieked Sanji and was quickly on his legs, emptying his pockets, but the fucking wallet wasn’t there. Where was it?! Sanji was going through the places where he could have left it, but then he realised that he didn’t even take it with him in the first place and he face-palmed himself. “Fucking great, I forgot my wallet at home,” whined Sanji and Zoro snorted.

“I’ll pay for the drinks, for both of us,” offered Zoro and Sanji flinched.  _ Again? _

“Thanks,” said Sanji and smiled. Zoro could be kind, huh? “That means that you’re again coming over for dinner?” asked Sanji and looked over at the bar. “Maybe make that two,” he said - drinks were pricey over at their club and Zoro held his breath. He didn’t-

“I-”

“It’s okay, I will draw you a map this time so you don’t get lost,” whined Sanji and then giggled. Zoro sighed and because he knew how it went the first time around - Sanji not leaving him alone and stalking him around the club - he nodded without bitching too much.

“Fine,” said Zoro and Sanji happily smiled.

_ The fu… did he even know what he was getting himself into? _


	5. Chapter 5

Zoro was laying on his bed and was trying to get the damn cook out of his mind, but it wasn’t working at all. In fact it was only getting worse as of lately and he huffed under his breath, closing his eyes for a little bit and he groaned. He really didn’t feel like going over to Baratie that evening - he and Sanji had an agreement, again. Sanji was to cook him a meal for the drinks that he paid for him the other day, but Zoro really wasn’t in the mood to go over there, grumbling under his breath. It was scary how much he was looking forward to it, throughout the entire week he was looking forward to their plans, but he also found it annoying. He wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea if he went over to the restaurant.  _ Maybe if he was earlier that day, it wouldn’t be just him and Sanji in the restaurant.  _

The thing that he was afraid was - being stuck with Sanji, alone in the room. Zoro huffed under his breath and opened his eyes again and looked over to the door. The door of his room was locked - he has learned from experiences that locking the door when you were living together with Usopp and Luffy was the best thing to do. The concept of privacy was kind of foreign to the two of them and he smiled when he listened to the other two. They were again bickering about something in the living room; ah, they really were loud roommates, but it was good. He liked that they managed to fill the silence around him. 

Zoro looked over to the desk that was in his room and he rolled his eyes when he glanced upon the pile of books that was on top of it. He was supposed to read through all of that until the end of the month but he wasn’t in the mood to even  _ start.  _ Biting into his lower lip, Zoro then decided that it was probably for the best that he stayed home that evening and started up on reading the books. Not that he wanted, but it was a good excuse not to go over to the restaurant. The more that he spent time with Sanji the more he was feeling… weird. He didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing, but he didn’t like that he didn’t have himself under control around the blonde.

Also there was something that struck Zoro, what Sanji said to him. Unlike the people that he went out with before, he didn’t find him boring. Not all of his exes found him boring, but it was a reoccurring thing and nobody has actually called him interesting - apart from his friends, who were supposed to be on his side, anyway. But Sanji was still more of a stranger than an actual friend to him and he found him interesting and not boring. That made Zoro feel… happy. Yes, it made him feel happy and he cleared his throat when he found himself smiling again.

Ugh.

Sanji pissed him off and he rolled his eyes, rolling onto his side and he clicked with his tongue, his thoughts wandering over to the last time that he had seen Sanji - it was on the evening that they decided to share a few drinks together. That was a few days ago and he sighed under his breath. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, it was kind of nice to sit back and just chat with him. When he wasn’t his sleazy and pervy self, he was a decent company. Not perfect, but well… better than strolling around the club alone, that was for sure and Zoro sighed  _ again _ .

One of the things that he still couldn’t get out of his mind was how good Sanji looked the other day - in that freaking orange button up shirt. It didn’t make any sense, orange shouldn’t look good on anyone and yet on Sanji it looked more than perfect and Zoro bit his lower lip, trying to think of something else, but the more that he tried his mind to force to focus on something else, the more he was thinking how ridiculously hot Sanji looked the other day, Zoro’s cheeks reddening a little bit and he groaned. Not only that the shirt looked good on him, but also that  _ smile _ was something that he couldn’t get out of his mind. He didn’t want to admit it, but Sanji looked  _ cute _ when he smiled that way.

Not the way that he was grinning around women when he was hitting on them. Zoro found that smile annoying, but when Sanji smiled at him back at the restaurant, it was a different kind of smile. Kind. It made him feel warm inside and he shuddered a little bit. He was attracted to the damn cook, swallowing thickly and he felt his heartbeat getting a little bit faster, his body heating up as he slowly let his eyes flutter shut once more and Sanji was again in front of his eyes.

Zoro’s mind was travelling to places and he let out a little hitched breath when he remembered just how  _ good _ Sanji looked with his shirt unbuttoned, leaning over to him which made it more than perfect for Zoro to see everything and he swallowed thickly, his face heating up, cheeks red just a little bit.  _ If only he could have seen more the other day.  _ Sanji’s body was slim, but it was well-toned as well and he huffed under his breath. This was getting dangerous, but there was no coming back from this.

“Damn cook,” escaped past Zoro’s lips. Sanji’s face was so  _ expressive.  _ He was so easy to read and for a split second Zoro dared to imagine what kind of an expression he would get from the cook if he was about to kiss him.  _ And touch him?  _ “Shit,” said Zoro breathlessly, feeling his blood travel to southern parts of his body.  _ No, no, no, he wasn’t getting a hard on.  _ Not for such a stupid and annoying person. It wasn’t possible.

But it was. Zoro decided to blame it on the fact that he didn’t get any action in a long time. That was probably it. Zoro wanted to stand up and walk over to the bathroom to take a very cold shower, but there was something that kept him from going there. He wanted to think more about Sanji and he cursed under his breath, slowly letting his hand fall lower, cupping his hard member through his sweatpants and he swallowed thickly.  _ He didn’t do this often.  _ Not that he didn’t like it, but it wasn’t often that he got turned on… especially like this.

Zoro kept his other hand resting on top of his chest, but in his mind his own hand quickly transformed into Sanji’s hand. He had long, slender fingers; he watched him carefully the last time when he was over at Baratie when he was cutting up the vegetables. He had a delicate, yet strong grip. “Crap,” breathed out Zoro, feeling his thighs tremble a bit, licking across his lower lip. “I can’t stop,” he said, his voice dropping an octave lower. “What did the idiot do to me, f-fuck.”

Zoro hooked his thumb under the hem of his sweatpants and thought about it for a little while.  _ If he was about to get off to cook, then there was no coming back.  _ But he didn’t care, Sanji again flashing in front of his eyes and he finally cracked, slipping his hand into his pants and slowly pulled them down together with his underwear. He glanced down and his face reddened even more when he saw just how hard he was already. This was embarrassing, only thinking about the cook managed to turn him on beyond belief.

“I-I need to get ahold of myself,” muttered Zoro.

How would Sanji’s hand feel around him, though? Zoro squirmed his legs together and he couldn’t hold back anymore. His body felt as if it was about to burst, so he finally pushed the logic way of thinking aside for the time being and he wrapped his fingers around the base of his cock, arching his back. In his mind, Zoro continued stripping Sanji’s shirt all the way down, feeling his cock twitching in his hand. He slowly started moving his hand, biting his lower lip.

Zoro sped up the movement of his hand, his toes curling and his hips moving, thrusting slowly back into his palm. Wanting to feel Sanji’s lips upon his own, Zoro gritted his teeth and shuddered. He wanted to explore Sanji’s body to the fullest - what kind of sounds would he make? Zoro felt the pleasure building up; he knew that he wouldn’t last much longer. He grew even harder in his palm, his hand again transforming into Sanji’s. That stirred him up even more, the thought of Sanji touching him.

Zoro’s stoic posture was stripped away, he was panting and groaning loudly. “Oh, oh, fuck, I-I can’t,” groaned Zoro in between his moans, letting his eyes fall close. His body was overheating, he could feel Sanji’s lips upon his neck, going up to his ear. He could  _ hear  _ Sanji whispering his name into his ear.

“ _ Zoro. _ ”

That was enough to push him over the edge, biting back his moan as he was pushed over the edge, coming all over his hand, biting his forearm, slowly riding out his orgasm as every muscle in his body tensed up, slowly relaxing and he laid on his bed for a little while, feeling spent. He was catching his breath, looking around and his face reddened again.  _ That was intense.  _ The realisation that he got off to cook was slowly seeping through the haze of the pleasure and his eyes widened.

“Fuck,” cursed Zoro.

* * *

Sanji was pissed off the next day when he came over to the club. He didn’t really have plans of going that particular day, but because the idiot of the moss head didn’t show up at Baratie the day before, he needed to come there and confront him. He spent hours in the kitchen waiting for him to show up. Even  _ two hours _ after the closing time, he spent waiting for him in the restaurant, but the idiot didn’t show up. What a dick! He was about to give Zoro a piece of his mind. His whole day was completely and utterly ruined and he needed to get it off of his chest. He was hoping that he was going to find the green headed idiot in the club. If not he was really going to-

At first Sanji thought that Zoro didn’t come over to the club as well, but he managed to find him in the back after a few minutes of searching. He felt his blood boil with anger and he quickly marched towards him - he wasn’t going to waste any time yelling at the idiot. If he thought that he could mess around with him like that then he was really mistaken. Sanji made all of those plans of what to cook for Zoro and then it all went to waste. He couldn’t believe that he took time from his free time to actually plan a meal for that idiot. He was way too kind for his own good. Sanji huffed.

“Marimo!” yelled Sanji and Zoro flinched when he heard Sanji’s voice, eyes wide as he saw the blonde walking closer to him. Zoro groaned and rolled his eyes; he knew what was coming. Sanji was going to yell at him, wasn’t he? Nothing that he didn’t expect, but he really wasn’t in the mood. He did feel a bit bad for not going over to Baratie the previous day, but he just couldn’t. Not after he…  _ he couldn’t.  _ It was way too weird, he barely managed to force himself to look up at the cook’s face. There was no way that he would be able to be stuck all alone with the cook. 

“What?” whined Zoro and Sanji gritted his teeth. So he was going to continue being rude, was he?  _ Two could play at that game! _

“Where the hell were you yesterday?” asked Sanji.

“Huh?” 

“Don’t play dumb, Marimo,” said Sanji. “We had plans - you were supposed to show up at our restaurant and you  _ didn’t _ ,” said Sanji. Zoro again rolled his eyes and then crossed his arms on top of his chest. “If you don’t intend on coming then you shouldn’t promise to come,” said Sanji and Zoro arched his brow.  _ Sanji took his words as a promise?  _ Zoro felt his heart skipping a bit, but he quickly recovered.

“I didn’t give you any promises,” said Zoro. “I just said that to get you off my back,” said Zoro and shrugged it off. “I had no intentions of coming,” said Zoro. He was lying through his teeth and he didn’t like how it made him feel. Usually he didn’t mind lying, but this time he didn’t like it. It made him feel like he was doing something bad, especially when he saw the face that Sanji made after he said that. 

_ Did… did he hurt his feelings?  _ Well, maybe it was for the best. If Sanji would still find him an asshole then maybe the blonde would stay away and Zoro could get back to normal. His strange feelings for the other would be able to go away and things could go back to normal. “You lied?” asked Sanji and his voice came out a bit quieter. Zoro was annoyed - why did he say it like it mattered to him? They didn’t get along, not really, so why-

“Um, yeah,” said Zoro and Sanji pressed his lips together angrily. A deep frown settled deep between his eyebrows.

“Why?!”

“I told you - to get you off my back,” said Zoro. “Now, move. I have to do my job and you’re annoying,” said Zoro, trying to walk past Sanji, who didn’t budge. Instead of moving away, Sanji pressed his forearm up against Zoro’s chest and he pushed him back until he hit the wall behind him and his eyes widened. What was he doing? Zoro grumbled under his breath, trying to walk away, but the cook kept him there in place and he swallowed thickly. His stupid face was way too close for Zoro’s liking.

“This isn’t funny,” hissed Sanji. “I waited for you didn’t show up,” said Sanji, his voice spitting fire and Zoro’s eyes widened a little bit. He was waiting for him? For how long? His heart was beating faster again. No, it… it wasn’t like this. The cook was messing with his head again. Looking away, Zoro was ignoring Sanji the very best way that he could. 

“Hah,” snickered Zoro. “Well, my bad then,” said Zoro. “You shouldn’t have waited,” he said simply and shrugged it. “I mean it’s not like we’re friends or-”

“I waited for you for two hours after closing time, you dick,” said Sanji and pressed Zoro against the wall tighter, keeping him there. Oh, no, Marimo wasn’t running away this time. Not until he would fully tell him how much he was annoyed with him. He needed to get it all of his chest, the moss head needed to know how much he hated him. He was annoying, obnoxious, a liar. He was such-

“You did what?” asked Zoro, completely caught off guard.

“Oh, don’t give me that surprised look,” said Sanji, face red with anger. “I suppose this was just another way for you to mess with me,” said Sanji and bit his lower lip. The grin on Zoro’s face pissed him off - he was going to smack him silly. He was going to wipe that stupid grin off his face. He didn’t want to make a scene inside of the club, but he was prepared to take things outside because he had had it enough. He thought that they were getting along a few days ago, but now he was pulling this shit again?! Sanji was officially sick of him.

“That’s enough,” snapped Zoro and Sanji glanced back up at him. 

“You’re right,” muttered Sanji and pulled back. “Let’s just get this over with,” carried on Sanji and pulled out his wallet. He then started counting the money, roughly calculating the same amount that Zoro had to cover for him the other day. He pulled it out and wanted to give it to Zoro, but the other wouldn’t accept it.  _ Ugh, why was he so stubborn?!  _

“I told you, I’m not taking your money,” grumbled Zoro. 

“Then what the hell do you want from me?” asked Sanji and glanced away. Why was he always changing how he was around him? One time he was kind of nice to him, the other he was snapping at him, again on another occasion he was agreeing to freely have a drink with him. Sanji couldn’t figure him out at all - was it all just an act? He knew that Zoro was a sadist; was he playing around with him because he was bored? It pissed him off, he hated people like that. 

“What do I want from you?” mumbled Zoro and then gave him a look of disbelief. He didn’t get the question - what was Sanji asking him? “Nothing, I want to have absolutely nothing to do with you.”

“Why buy me a drink the other day?” snapped Sanji.

“It was the alcohol,” said Zoro, waving it off. “I didn’t think straight.”

“Bullshit,” spat out Sanji. “If you want to really get me off this back, take this and leave me alone then,” said Sanji and placed the money into Zoro’s hand. It was like electricity when Zoro felt Sanji’s palm on top of this and he automatically pulled his hand back. It wasn’t because of the money, not this time. His body heated up again, gasping softly when Sanji tried to give him the money again, leaning closer this time. 

“Too close,” whispered Zoro, but Sanji didn’t hear.

“Hah?! What did you say?” asked Sanji. “Take it, ugh, you’re so stubborn!”

Leaning in again, Sanji grabbed Zoro by the collar of his shirt - he was going to force him to take that money. Zoro’s eyes widened when Sanji leaned closer, feeling his hot breath against his cheek and he swallowed thickly.  _ That was exactly why he didn’t want to be stuck together with Sanji alone.  _ He could feel his head spinning, his eyes falling down upon Sanji’s lips and he shuddered. 

Zoro also grabbed Sanji, grabbing him by his shoulders and his plan was to push him away. However, then their eyes met Zoro did the complete opposite - instead of pushing Sanji away he was caught up in the heap of the moment and he pulled Sanji  _ in.  _ Before he really realised what was going on, his lips were already pushing up against Sanji’s, whose eyes grew, trying to realise what the hell happened. Zoro didn’t know what has gotten into him either - Sanji was so close, he could smell the usual smell of cigarettes on him and he couldn’t stay away anymore. 

Zoro crushed their lips together, giving Sanji a rough kiss. Sanji completely blanked out, while Zoro kissed him again, Sanji’s arms slowly falling down and he stopped holding Zoro’s shirt, standing kind of limp there and when Zoro went in for the third kiss he heard a  _ moan.  _ It wasn’t his own, Sanji quickly jumping back and Zoro’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t muster even a word, he was as petrified as Sanji over there at the side. 

_ Shit, shit, shit, he didn’t mean to- _

Sanji was going to beat the shit out of him, there was no doubt about it. Zoro forced himself to look up at Sanji, who was standing, wiping his mouth with his forearm, but he was flushing. His face was bright red, he was shaking and Zoro’s jaw dropped.  _ Wait, what was with that reaction? _ He wasn’t… mad? Sanji didn’t appear mad, he was flustered, trying his best to put on the mask that he usually wore, but it wasn’t working. Zoro’s kiss completely stripped him down, his emotions raw.

Zoro stepped closer to say something, finally, but Sanji quickly made a step back. Sanji didn’t give Zoro the time to say anything because in the next moment he was already running out of the club and doom settled deep within Zoro’s heart. 

_ What the hell was he supposed to do now?! _

* * *

Standing in front of the mirror, Sanji was fighting back the tears. Skimming fingers over his lips where Zoro’s kiss still lingered, Sanji angrily glared at himself. Wiping his lips again, he angrily glanced down and leaned over the sink, washing his face. He tried to get ahold of himself, his heart was hammering against his ribcage, swallowing back his tears again. Zoro’s strong arms, he could still feel them.

_ He wanted more, not just a kiss. _

“S-shit,” stammered Sanji.

Washing his hot face with cold water, he gasped and then swallowed down thickly, slowly glancing back up and he had to look away when he saw the reflection looking back at him. Sanji closed his eyes, gasping softly when he felt Zoro’s lips again pressing up against his own and his eyes welled up again from frustration. He was trying so hard not to-

“No… I don’t want this,” whispered Sanji.


	6. Chapter 6

“And then he ran away,” muttered Zoro, tugging onto his hair out of frustration and he clicked with his tongue. It’s been a week since kissed the cook out of the blue and while he was trying to keep it to himself for the time being, after a week of silence he needed to tell someone what was bothering him. Everything was a mess; Sanji stopped coming altogether over to the club, Zoro didn’t know what to think of it.  _ That expression that he made after the kiss, his little moan when he went in for a third kiss.  _

Sanji didn’t kiss him back, but there was a sense of longing in his eyes and it sparked up something inside of Zoro. He wanted Sanji, he wanted him so bad. He wanted to kiss him more, explore his body to the fullest. He was attracted to him, there was no doubt about it. He was sure that if they would bang that he would then get it out of his system. That was all that he needed - to get laid, probably. He didn’t know, that was why he needed to ask someone about and who better to ask than Nami and Robin. Much to his misfortune Usopp was there as well. 

Nami’s eyes were wide open when Zoro told her what happened and she looked over to Robin, who didn’t look too surprised. Lately all that Zoro was talking about was this cook that was a regular at the club that he worked at so when Zoro told them that he kissed him, it wasn’t too shocking. She could sense it that there was something that Zoro wasn’t telling them and that was that he was probably catching feelings for him. Or at least was attracted to him and his latest news confirmed her suspicions, smiling softly and she was about to open her mouth to say something, but Usopp there at the side decided that it was a good idea to start  _ laughing.  _

“Zoro’s kisses scare people away,” snickered the youngest and Zoro’s eyes darkened and he huffed under his breath. It wasn’t like Usopp couldn’t be trusted, he didn’t really care if the word got around that he made out with a guy. Usopp could be trusted and he was a good friend  _ if _ he could take things seriously and it seemed that this time he wasn’t going to take this seriously, Zoro grumbling and he formed a fist with his hand. He really wasn’t in the mood for this, he needed someone to tell him what to do and not laugh at him, his fist really itching to break that nose of Usopp’s.

“Oi, man, do you want to die?” asked Zoro and Usopp flinched.

“No need to get upset with me if you’re a shit kisser,” snapped Usopp back, using up the last bit of courage that he still had, but Zoro could see that it was again all talk. All talk, but there was fear in his eyes and in the end Zoro just rolled his eyes because he knew that it wasn’t worth getting upset over such a little thing. He knew Usopp well enough that he didn’t mean anything  _ bad _ by it. Probably. Everything pissed Zoro off lately, even more than usual and Zoro glared at Usopp, who quickly looked away.  _ Maybe he shouldn’t have said that.  _

Zoro wasn’t the only one that was pissed off at Usopp. Nami was glaring at their friend as well, crossing her arms on top of her chest. “Don’t get your hands dirty, Zoro,” she said and then cracked her knuckles. “I’ll take care of him for you,” she said and her little grin made Usopp finally crack and he bowed his head down apologetically and then he looked over at Zoro, wearing that puppy eyed expression on his face when he wanted people to feel sorry for him.

Zoro rolled his eyes and huffed. “It’s-”

“Zoro, I’m sorry,” said Usopp and Zoro arched his brow. “I didn’t think it was this serious, I was trying to lighten up the mood,” he said and Zoro looked down, then back up at Usopp. That sounded like Usopp indeed, he tried cheering everyone up, was childish and could sometimes come off as rude. In the end, Zoro finally decided to let it go as he leaned back against the chair and sighed out in frustration. He was so frustrated, he needed to apologise to Sanji, to tell him that it was all just a big mistake. He didn’t drink the other day, but maybe he could blame it on alcohol. Perhaps it would sound believable. 

No matter how much he wanted to do Sanji, he knew that it was a deadend. That guy was a Casanova, there was no way that he would ever consider doing it with a guy, so Zoro gave up on that idea from the beginning. Still, there was something about his reaction that made him believe that perhaps there was more to the whole thing, but he forced himself to move on from that thought and he looked over to Nami and Robin, sighing again. “What do I do?” whined Zoro and Nami looked over to Robin, because she didn’t really know what to tell her friend. It was complicated. Also unlike Zoro to come to them for advice in his love life, it was the first for both of them.

“Do you, um, have feelings for this… cook?” asked Nami carefully and Zoro gave her a look of disbelief and then he started laughing.  _ If he had feelings for him?  _ Apart from being insanely attracted to him and wanting to bang him, there was nothing more to it. At least that was what Zoro made himself believe and he quickly shook his head.

“Feelings?” asked Zoro after he finally managed to stop laughing.

“Well, you said that you kissed him,” muttered Nami. “Don’t laugh at me,” she then grumbled and rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to help you and figure it out. You’re not telling us much, I’m not sure what kind of advice you want from me if you don’t tell us the full story,” she then carried on, not appreciating that Zoro was wasting her time like that. She was trying to be a good friend, but he was just laughing at her. She wasn’t going to stand by that and in the end Zoro huffed under his breath and shook his head.

“It’s not like that,” said Zoro.

“Then explain it to us properly,” said Nami.

“I’m attracted to him - that’s it,” said Zoro and then shook his head. “I’m sure if I got this out of my system… you know what I mean,” he said and Nami gave him a quick nod. “Then it would be all okay. I would be able to go back to normal and would forget about the stupid cook. Because anything but his appearance is annoying. His personality is annoying, I cannot stand him,” he carried on and Robin’s smile was growing. “He’s obnoxious, loud and he’s a pervert,” said Zoro. “And  _ very  _ into women, ugh,” he said. “To the point where it’s tacky and unhealthy,” he carried on, ranting away and Robin giggled over there at the side. Zoro looked at her. “What?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” said Robin and waved it off.  _ But he totally didn’t have any feelings for him, right? _ Zoro was hilarious, but she didn’t say anything. She couldn’t really, he needed to figure it out on his own, which Zoro usually did. It needed him a bit of a time, but usually he got it in the end. 

“What do I do?” whined Zoro.

“Apologise?” asked Usopp and Zoro glared at him.  _ Apologise to the cook?!  _ And just what was he supposed to say? Zoro wasn’t going to apologise to anyone. Besides, the club was much better now that Sanji wasn’t there, anyway. Whole week of pure silence, there wasn’t anyone bothering him and it was so  _ fucking boring.  _ Zoro’s eyes widened when he suddenly realised that he blinked a few times. Did he miss Sanji? Not really, he missed having someone around that he could poke fun at… right?

“I’m not going to apologise,” mumbled Zoro and sighed, looking down to the floor and he grumbled.  _ Ugh, everything sucked! _

* * *

It took Zoro five more days to fully realise that his friends were right - that it was probably for the best if he went over to Sanji’s restaurant and apologised to him. Zoro didn’t agree with that until Luffy had a long chat with him, it was only then that Luffy put the whole situation from another perspective to him that he finally realised that it was right; he needed to go over there and give Sanji an explanation. Sure he was going to be angry with him and he was probably going to beat him up, but at least Zoro would tell him the truth and the truth was - he was attracted to him.  _ But nothing more! _

No matter how much he hated the idea, he decided to go there and have a talk with him. Huffing under his breath, Zoro stepped out of the taxi, angrily looking around the place. This time he decided to go there with taxi, he really wasn’t in the mood for getting lost again. Biting into his lip, Zoro felt his stomach making a little flop when he looked over to the restaurant and he rubbed the back of his neck. It looked different now that it was in the middle of the day. 

There were so many people there - the terrace was full on packed and he could see through the windows that it was also packed on the inside. Biting into his lip, Zoro ducked his head down and didn’t step inside right away. He needed to make sure that he was  _ ready.  _ He didn’t even know what he was going to say to Sanji exactly. He couldn’t go in there and say ‘ _ Hey, dude, sorry for kissing you the other day. I just wanna bang you, but it’s cool. It’s cool.’  _ Zoro groaned and crossed his arms on top of his chest.

He wished that he was better at this - interaction with people. Honestly, he envied people like Sanji for example; they always got along with people. Meanwhile Zoro always came across as scary, rude or both at the same time. Zoro cleared his throat, fixed his hair and then glanced inside of the restaurant. This was going to be fast - he was going in there, demanding for the cook to come out and he was going to apologise. That was the only way he could actually talk to him, he wouldn’t come over to their club anymore. This was a full proof plan and it wasn’t going to fail!

When Zoro stepped inside he looked completely lost, not knowing where to place himself. The place was swarming with people, trying to find someone that would take him to Sanji. In the end he walked over to the front desk, hoping that the young woman that was working there would be able to help him. Zoro took a deep breath in, but before he was able to tell her why he was there, she was already speaking. “Hello, sir, and welcome to Baratie,” she said happily. “Do you have a reservation and on what name?” she asked and Zoro quickly shook his head.

“No, I don’t-”

“Aw, I see,” she said and then cheered up again. “That’s quite okay, the last reservation was cancelled just a few moments ago,” she said and Zoro’s jaw dropped. Again, he wasn’t there to- “It must be your lucky day,” she said and giggled. “It’s really hard to get in here without making a reservation in time,” she said and Zoro gritted his teeth.

“No, you don’t understand,” said Zoro. “I’m not here to-”

“Are you alone or will anyone be joining you?”

“I’m alone, but that’s not the-”

“Splendid,” she chirped and Zoro’s jaw dropped. “Please follow me, I will take you to your desk,” she said, slowly stepping over to Zoro and he was rolling his eyes. 

“I’m just here because I want to-”

“Right this way, sir,” she said and in the end instead of walking away, Zoro followed her. He was gritting his teeth, huffing and puffing with anger when he was seated down, the menu in his hands and he was shaking his head.  _ No, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go down.  _ He wasn’t hungry, he didn’t want to… he just wanted to talk and then go away. Why wouldn’t anyone understand that?!

Zoro was angrily flipping through the menu, but wasn’t really paying attention to what was written in there. He was more interested in where the damn cook was, angrily rolling his eyes and he huffed. In the end he placed the menu away, not in the mood to eat  _ at all _ , running his fingers through his hair and he let out a defeated groan. He didn’t even know if the cook was in the kitchen at the moment, anyway. It was stupid of him coming all the way down to the restaurant and he grumbled under his breath. However, just as he was about to completely give up and stand up and leave, a young water stopped by his side and Zoro’s eyes widened. Okay, this was his chance to ask where Sanji was!

“Sir, have you already decided what you’ll-”

“Wait,” said Zoro, finally putting his foot down. He wasn’t going to let this continue for much longer. The waiter looked surprised, but he soon recovered and he cocked his head to the side. “I’m not interested in ordering anything,” barked Zoro and the waiter gave him an offended, but surprised look. “I’m here to speak to someone,” said Zoro and the other arched his brow. “A cook. Blonde. A perv. Curly brows,” said Zoro and the waiter sighed and placed his hands on top of his sides.

“Sanji,” said the latter and his voice suddenly turned into a very grim tone.  _ This wasn’t the first time that this happened he reconned?  _ “What did that idiot do this time?” he asked, Zoro opening his mouth to say something, but then the waiter lifted his finger and shook his head. “No, I don’t wanna hear it. I’ll go get him,” he said and shook his head. “Always getting us in trouble, our business is starting to suffer because of him. Ugh,” he ranted as he walked away and Zoro huffed under his breath.  _ Okay, this was it! _

* * *

Sanji was in the kitchen, prepping the next order to leave the kitchen when he saw one of the waiters coming to his side. “Sanji, what did you do this time?” whined the young man and Sanji arched his brow, putting the final touch to the plate and he looked over to the other, his frown back on his face and he clicked with his tongue.

“What? I’ve been here for the entire day,” whined Sanji. “Old man forbade me from going out there,” he said and rolled his eyes.  _ Something about being too hard on the customers.  _ It made no sense to Sanji, he just wanted people to appreciate good food. Some people were assholes and came there only to complain!

“Well, there’s someone out there that wants to speak to you,” said the other.

“Tch, who?”

“I don’t know the name,” said the waiter. “But he looks like someone that you don’t wanna mess around with. His eyes are scary,” he said and Sanji immediately flinched because that sounded like Zoro. “Green hair. I don’t know, man, he looks super pissed off,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself in this time, but I hope you soon clean this mess up,” he said and shook his head.

Sanji looked over to the door and then gulped down.  _ Zoro was there?  _ Why? His heart started hammering against his ribcage and he wanted to run away. There was no way that he was going out there. He was trying his hardest to  _ not _ run into him and now the idiot was there? What the hell was his plan? It pissed Sanji off!

Zoro kissed him the other day.

Why?

Sanji wasn’t able to wipe that kiss out of his memory no matter how hard he tried and it was messing with his head. He tried not to think of it, but…  _ impossible.  _ Trying to stay away from the green headed idiot and now he had the audacity to waltz in like that? For what?! Gritting his teeth, Sanji looked away, ignoring his pounding heart. And the way his cheeks were getting red. No. 

The idiot was despicable, he was only playing around with him and Sanji had had it enough. It was enough - how far was he prepared to go to humiliate him? Sanji took a deep breath, put on his poker face like always and just waved it away. “Tell him I’m not interested. He’s an asshole, not worth paying him any attention,” said Sanji, but that cool and collected face melted away as soon as he turned back to the counter.

_ What was his plan?  _

_ Did Zoro hate him so much?  _

* * *

Zoro angrily kicked the sidewalk. “Doesn’t have the time to see me, my ass,” he said, ranting away. Zoro was still standing in front of Baratie and he was beyond pissed off. The waiter came back out to tell him that Sanji wasn’t showing up. Zoro left, but he stayed in front of the restaurant, his blood boiling with anger. “Coward doesn’t have the balls to face me,” he carried on, biting into his lip.  _ What did he see in him again?  _ Ugh! So there he was, walking up and down the street, scowling at the restaurant, shaking his head.  _ It took him so much to come all the way down there and now the idiot completely dismissed him! _

It would be easier to walk away and ignore the idiot cook. Before he managed to walk away, he took one last peek through the window and his eyes widened when he saw that the cook did set his feet through the door of the kitchen after all. Narrowing his eyes, Zoro was glued at the window and was scowling because Sanji was  _ smiling.  _ He was happily carrying a plate with food and Zoro’s eyes followed him across the room, over to the table at the side.  _ Ah, so he could serve the food to that guy, but not to him, huh?!  _

Gritting his teeth, Zoro was just glaring at Sanji and the guy. They seemed to be pretty close, huh? By the way that they were chatting and laughing it was easy to see that they knew each other, they seemed close. Sanji had a bright smile on his face and Zoro managed to see the other way looking at him. Feeling annoyance kicking in, Zoro already decided that he didn’t like the guy at all, no matter who he was. He had an annoying face. 

Zoro’s mood worsened when Sanji leaned closer to the other and he angrily stomped his feet against the floor. “Way too close, idiot,” grumbled Zoro. “Move away,” he carried on, now leaning against the window and some of the people inside of the restaurant were beginning to notice him, pointing over to him. Zoro flinched and his face reddened with embarrassment when he saw a girl pointing over to him when she and her father passed him on the street.

“Dad, look, that strange man-”

“Don’t point, just walk,” he whispered back at her and pulled her along, hurrying past Zoro and he quickly shook his head.  _ No, it wasn’t like- _ Zoro looked through the window again and it seemed that Sanji also noticed people pointing over to the window, quickly jumping over to the side at the right moment so that Sanji wouldn’t see him there, his heart pounding fast and he slapped himself across the forehead.

“What the hell am I doing?” muttered Zoro to himself.

* * *

Sanji was getting ready to leave the restaurant. That day he also stayed over past his work time, staying the longest at the restaurant, but he didn’t really mind it. Cleaning up after the others in the kitchen and prepping a few things for the next day helped him unwind after the day that he had.  _ Zoro showed up at the restaurant and wanted to see him.  _ Sanji was still pretty shaken up and he huffed under his breath. But hopefully the idiot was going to get the message and was going to stay away from now on. Sighing, Sanji was slowly locking the entrance door, slowly going down the stairs.

Sanji’s place wasn’t too far away. Just around the corner and down the block and he was going to be there in no time! That was supposed to be the plan, but just as he turned around the corner he ended up bumping into someone. Someone tall. Strong built.  _ Green hair.  _ He could see that he had green hair even if it was dark;  _ Zoro was still there?!  _ Sanji jumped back and his jaw dropped, Zoro slowly turning around. At that point Sanji really didn’t know what to think - he was still there, that idiot? But-

“Marimo, you almost gave me a heart attack!” shrieked Sanji and Zoro rolled his eyes. 

“Tch.”

“What are you doing here?” yelled Sanji. He was thankful that it was, Zoro couldn’t see his bright flush upon his cheeks. He didn’t know how to face Zoro after  _ that.  _ Zoro was over at the restaurant hours ago and he was still there? Sanji narrowed his eyes and then snorted. “Did you get lost again?” asked Sanji and Zoro’s jaw dropped.

“I didn’t get lost!” said Zoro. “Not this time nor the last one,” he said. “I told you this part of town is weird. Streets all-”

“Yeah, yeah,” waved it off Sanji and placed his hands upon his sides. “Anyway,” he said. “Why are you still here? I told you, I don’t wanna talk to you. I thought our waiter gave you that message loud and clear,” he said and Zoro was pissed off again.  _ Oh, but he did have time for that idiot before, huh?! _

“Why not?”

“I-” stammered Sanji. Was he honestly asking him that?

“What?” barked Zoro. “Too busy for me?” he asked and tried to think twice before opening his mouth, but thinking wasn’t Zoro’s forte in this case and he shook his head. “I came all the way down. You still owe me two meals,” muttered Zoro and Sanji arched his brow. He was there to eat? The waiter said that he wanted to  _ talk.  _ Sanji was confused. He said he wouldn’t be coming? He was getting mixed signals from Zoro and he couldn’t catch on what they were supposed to mean. Was he still only playing around with him?

“You said you didn’t want any,” said Sanji.

“I changed my mind,” said Zoro.

“Why?”

“Because I can,” stated Zoro.

“This idiot...”

“So, cook me something,” snapped Zoro and Sanji grumbled under his breath.

“I change my mind,” said Sanji, trying to walk past Zoro, but the other turned around and his rational way of thinking was gone. Zoro didn’t think about what was going to come out of his mouth because if he did-

“Oh, but you could serve  _ him _ today, couldn’t you?” hissed Zoro. “Not only that you cooked for him, but you brought it all on a silver platter,” barked Zoro and Sanji’s eyes were growing wide. What was he talking about? “Don’t play dumb, I  _ saw _ you before. All chummy-chummy with him,” he carried on and when he finally realised that he said too much - way too, too much, biting his tongue. 

Zoro saw him?

Where?

“Gin?” whispered Sanji. Also why was he getting so bothered about it? He almost sounded… jealous? Sanji snorted and cocked his head to the side. Zoro was jealous? Because he cooked for his friend and not him? Still… way too many mixed signals, Zoro should make his mind up already, Sanji couldn’t keep up! “Are you jealous?” suddenly asked Sanji.

“Who is?!” yelled Zoro so loud that not only that street, but the next two could hear him and Sanji laughed. Zoro was almost adorable.  _ Almost.  _ Zoro, on the other hand, wanted to disappear.  _ He didn’t want to say all of that! _

Sanji looked down, his laughter slowly dying out. He knew that he shouldn’t say what he was about to say. For his own sake he should be staying away from Zoro, he didn’t want to get swept away, but when he looked up into his dark eyes… and after hearing all of that, how was he supposed to say no? Sanji rubbed the back of his neck, biting into his lip and he then clasped his hands together, thinking hard. As much as he wanted to stay away from Zoro, he found it so, so hard to do so. 

“Tomorrow we open at 11, come around 9… before we open up,” said Sanji, avoiding making eye contact with Zoro, slowly walking past him. “I’ll make you breakfast and if you stand me up again, I will kick your ass,” he said, snickering. He could tell that Zoro was going after him, but he quickly took the next right - it was so easy to confuse Zoro and Zoro was soon all alone in the middle of the street and upon a few minutes he gave up on following Sanji. After everything , in the end, they didn’t talk about the  _ kiss _ . Huh.

Zoro had so many questions: what happened before? Why was he so pissed off before when he saw Sanji with that guy? But most important…  _ where the fuck was he?! _


	7. Chapter 7

Zoro yawned as he dragged his ass out of the taxi and he yawned again when he looked up at the Baratie and he whined. It was way too early, he didn’t have his coffee yet and he was pissed off that he agreed to Sanji’s conditions. He knew that it wasn’t the cook’s fault, he was the one that demanded Sanji to cook for him. He didn’t even know where all of that came from, but he knew that he fucked himself over so there was nothing to be pissed about at Sanji. That was the rational way of thinking, but his current grump and hungry mood was blaming everything on Sanji and he angrily groaned again. Why was the sun shining already so brightly?! It was a little bit over 9, so he hoped that the cook wasn’t going to snap at him because of that. He tried to be in time, but it was hard when you lived with two people, especially when those two people were Usopp and Luffy. Groaning, Zoro fixed his hair again and then finally decided that it was enough of stalling, walking over to the door and he groaned. Argh!

Was he supposed to knock? How was Sanji supposed to hear him if he was going to be all the way back in the kitchen? Gritting his teeth, Zoro lifted his hand up and knocked, but of course nothing happened and his annoyance had just gotten worse and he looked up and then clicked with his tongue. Fine, he was going to resort to yelling - that usually got people’s attention. Clearing his throat, Zoro took in a deep breath, clasped his hands together and then started yelling out for Sanji.

“Cook, I’m here!” yelled out Zoro and his eyes darkened because at first there was no response. Biting his lip, Zoro decided not to be too pissed off as of yet, so he tried again. “You perv, open up, I came so let me in and cook me breakfast already,” said Zoro. “It’s too early, I’m hungry and pissed off so don’t try to test me,” he carried on. “If you don’t open the door right at this instant I will kick it open,” warned Zoro as he continued banging onto the front door and that finally got him somewhere. Zoro heard the door above him being opened and he looked up, where he saw Sanji.

Sanji looked down and then huffed under his breath when he saw Marimo - he did show up after all. It was better for him to show up after that scene that he made yesterday! Sanji kind of thought that Zoro wasn’t going to show up, but he was just turning late.  _ Good, or he would have really kicked his ass.  _ Sanji leaned against the window stall and blinked a few times. “Ah, so you came,” he said in a very calm and collected manner. Zoro’s eyes widened - he wasn’t pissed off for running late? “I thought you weren’t coming. Got lost again?” teased Sanji. He knew that he was overdoing it, but it was too much fun seeing Zoro’s reaction every time to actually stop doing it and Zoro’s face immediately turned into bright red colour. 

“No!” barked Zoro. “I have two roommates that wouldn’t let me leave,” whined Zoro and Sanji chuckled softly. “Really I do!” said Zoro and Sanji continued laughing. Zoro was trying way too hard to prove him that he was in the wrong. “Stop laughing, perv, and let me in already,” whined Zoro, still looking up and Sanji smiled and slowly started slipping back inside of the kitchen, giving him a little wink.

“The door’s unlocked, you may come join me in the kitchen,” said Sanji. He had lots of work to do before they would be opening up, the rest of the staff would be there in an hour, so it was for the best if Zoro came in and had that breakfast  _ soon _ . He didn’t want to answer to the others, biting into his lip and he rolled his sleeves up as he looked around the kitchen - he should have come there earlier, sighing, but it was going to be okay!

Sanji felt too giddy for his own liking that the moss headed idiot showed up after all. It was… a nice surprise. Sanji thought that he wasn’t showing up, but he was more than happy to be proven wrong, trying to hide his smile when he heard the door opening over at the front and then he heard Zoro’s long, heavy and lingering footsteps slowly coming to his direction. Sanji’s face was hot, but he shook his head and for the time being at least he managed to push all of those annoying thoughts away. He was there to provide Marimo food, that was all that was happening, still he couldn’t deny that he felt happy. Biting into his lip, he managed to wipe away the smile from his face as soon as Zoro stepped inside of the kitchen and he looked up.

“Sup,” greeted him Sanji, and Zoro looked around.

“Hungry,” whined Zoro and slowly dragged his body over to Sanji. “Need coffee,” he carried on with whining but he was in luck because he could smell the coffee and Sanji grinned.

“You’re in luck, Marimo, the coffee will be soon done,” said Sanji.

“Make it strong,” whined Zoro and Sanji laughed.

“Right,” said Sanji, his heart pounding hard as he turned around to go grab the plates. He didn’t really have any special plans for Zoro’s breakfast, something fast that didn’t require much hard work. The plan was to cook him some toast, eggs and a few pancakes with freshly cut fruits. At least to Sanji that didn’t sound like anything special and he rubbed his palms together happily. Zoro was leaning over the counter, sitting down and was longingly looking over at all the food that Sanji had over there.

Some of it Sanji planned to use for Zoro’s breakfast, but there were also lots of vegetables to be ready to cut up and he was planning to prep salads for their earliest guests. “Where’s the breakfast, cook?” asked Zoro as if he was in a hurry. His classes didn’t start for a few hours, so he had free time. For now. But that wasn’t because he sounded in a hurry, he was just really,  _ really _ hungry and Sanji snorted.

“I will start making it now,” said Sanji. “I hope you’re in the mood for some toast and pancakes,” said the cook and Zoro arched his brow.  _ Both of them?  _ Zoro wasn’t going to say no, but he really planned to make all of that for him? 

“Fine, whatever. I don’t care. Food is food,” said Zoro and watched how Sanji’s smile widened.

“Great,” said Sanji and smiled. “The toast that I’m gonna make for you is the first thing that the old man taught me when I started working here,” said Sanji proudly, his smile growing. Sanji was a completely different person when he was cooking and talking about food. He wasn’t grumpy at all, Zoro could clearly see how much he loved cooking and he was again interested in this old man that Sanji kept bringing up. He was clearly his boss, but still - Zoro was interested.

“Who’s this old man?” suddenly asked Zoro and caught Sanji by surprise. 

“Mmm?” asked Sanji and Zoro arched his brow.

“You keep mentioning this old man,” said Zoro and then clasped his hands together. “Is he your boss?” he asked and Sanji looked over to him as he slowly started making the batter for pancakes and he slowly nodded.

“Yeah, kind of,” said Sanji and Zoro could tell that there was much more to that story than the ‘old man’ just being Sanji’s boss. “Zeff is the head chef in this kitchen and owns the whole place,” he said and his smile widened, adding the eggs and the rest of the ingredients in, whisking it up and he hummed. Zoro wanted to say something, but Sanji opened his mouth again. “In a way I own everything to him,” whispered Sanji and Zoro arched his brow. “He taught me everything that I know today,” he said and Zoro was carefully observing Sanji, slowly nodding along. “He’s a stubborn old man, but in the kitchen he’s a genius,” said Sanji and snickered. “Don’t tell him I said that,” he carried on and winked.

“Ah… yes, sure,” said Zoro. Sanji opened up to him? Right now, correct? He told him something that was personal and Zoro didn’t really make any comments. But he could see that there was more to the story, the look in Sanji’s eyes slowly changing and instead of happiness, he could see loneliness and… sadness? Zoro blinked a few times and just like that that sadness was wiped away.

“I hope you like blueberries with your pancakes,” said Sanji and Zoro shrugged.

“Anything goes, really.”

“If only all of our customers were more like you,” joked Sanji and walked over to the fridge. Zoro’s eyes widened and he looked away, a faint flush dusting his cheeks. Sanji was swiftly moving across the kitchen, frying two eggs, toasting the bread and at the same time baking the pancakes, all having under control and Zoro was impressed, his mouth watering when he looked over to the blueberries that Sanji brought over to the counter before. He mixed some of them into the batter and the rest of them were just left there, inviting Zoro to eat them. Zoro’s stomach whined and he gulped. “You wouldn’t believe what kind of people I have to deal with on a daily basis,” said Sanji and rolled his eyes.

“I’m not a people’s person, so trust me, I feel you,” said Zoro.

“Yeah,” said Sanji. So maybe they had something in common after all? Sanji bit his lip, shaking his head as he didn’t want to really think of that. He and Zoro were too different to be even as close as  _ friends.  _ They didn’t get along! Biting his lip, Sanji continued on cooking, pushing all of those annoying feelings away. Zoro, on the other hand, was  _ bored.  _ His eyes kept travelling over to the blueberries in the bowl - was the cook soon going to be done?! It smelled amazing, but Zoro was getting impatient. “I mean some of our customers are way too greedy,” he said and shook his head. “I hate greedy people and-” started ranting away Sanji, glancing over to the side and he saw Zoro attempting to steal a few of the blueberries from the bowl. His eyes darkened and he quickly smacked Zoro’s hand with the spatula that was in his hand.

Zoro’s eyes widened, yelping out in pain a little bit and he quickly withdrew his hand away, glaring at the shit cook. What the hell was his problem?! “Oi, what the fuck?!” yelled out Zoro and Sanji angrily looked at him.

“You shouldn’t spoil your appetite,” grubled Sanji. 

“I wasn’t-”

“And these are supposed to go on top of your pancakes, so don’t be greedy and wait, Marimo,” grumbled Sanji. Zoro narrowed his eyes, whining along, but he decided to wait for the idiot cook anyway. He wasn’t in the mood to fight, it was too early into the day, biting into his lower lip and his eyes wandered over to the coffee again. Sanji still didn’t pour it for him and he grumbled, slumping down over the counter as he was waiting. Sanji huffed under his breath and then continued with cooking. Luckily for Zoro, he didn’t need much longer, anyway, soon serving him the food. 

What Sanji prepared for Zoro was an egg toast, blueberry pancakes and a cup of a strong coffee. Zoro’s eyes were glued to the plates, trying his best not to show how much he wanted to dig in and Sanji gave him a little smile, huffing under his breath as he served the food for Zoro. Even though he didn’t like Zoro, he made sure that the plates looked amazing, decorating those pancakes with the rest of the blueberries. Sanji smiled and then watched how Zoro grabbed the mug of coffee first and took a big gulp of it, humming along and he nodded.  _ Ah, that was amazing.  _

Sanji giggled, Zoro looking up and felt his heart skipping a beat one more time. When he giggled like that and smiled, he was  _ adorable.  _ And it made Zoro want to do so many things to him… it wasn’t even funny. Shaking his head, Zoro decided to focus on the food for the time being, clearing his throat and he dug right in. Smiling, Sanji watched Zoro eat for a little bit, happy because he could tell that Zoro was enjoying himself.

“Good, right?” asked Sanji and Zoro nodded.

“So good,” said Zoro. He couldn’t lie, the perv cook was amazing at what he did.

“Good to know,” said Sanji, laughing along and Zoro nodded, carrying on. 

Zoro continued eating in silence, but he soon became aware that Sanji was staring at him and he flinched, looking over to the other and he narrowed his eyes. “Do you have to stare at me so creepily?” grumbled Zoro and Sanji quickly looked away, his face red, trying to regain his cool, but it was kind of hard to when Zoro caught him staring.  _ Was he really staring so obviously?  _ Sanji bit his lip and he looked over to the other, rolling his eyes. 

“Don’t flatter yourself, Marimo, I just wanted to check that you’re appreciating my cooking properly,” said Sanji.

“Sure and you’re totally not a perv, right?”

“Whatever,” said Sanji, rolled his eyes and sighed. “Besides, I don’t have time to sit back and stare at you,” he said and Zoro glared up again. “I have enough work on my hands as it is,” he said and then rubbed his palms together. Right, he needed to get to work. Also, it he was kind of glad that he had lots of work to do; he would be distracted and wouldn’t think too much that he was in the kitchen alone with Zoro. Alone. It was just the two of them in there. Completely alone. Nobody else was in the restaurant, just the two of them. Sanji’s heart jumped again and he whined.

“You’re pretty good, shit cook,” said Zoro, stuffing his face with food. 

“Gee, thanks,” said Sanji and then snorted. “Now eat in silence, I have a lot of things to do before we open up,” said Sanji and Zoro arched his brows and looked around the counter. It was full of vegetables indeed, what was he going to do with all of them? And why was he the only person that was in charge of… whatever he was supposed to be doing? Prepping the kitchen, or whatever. Not that he cared that it was all up to Sanji.

“What do you have to do?” asked Zoro, completely ignoring Sanji’s last words and the other glared at him. Zoro looked completely unbothered, eating the food happily while sipping the coffee.  _ Maybe it was worth coming all the way down there after all.  _ The corners of Sanji’s mouth were dangerously twitching.

“You have horrible manners,” grumbled Sanji.

“Hah?!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, idiot,” said Sanji and Zoro didn’t know if he should be taking him seriously or if he should be laughing. Either way, it was hilarious and he rolled his eyes. “Also, which part of silence don’t you understand?” carried on the blonde and Zoro stopped talking. For now. But when Sanji was washing up the vegetables he was again intrigued.

“What will you do with all of those?”

“Leave me alone, please eat your food in silence,” whined the other.

“I’m bored.”

“Tch,” said Sanji and hummed. “Well, if you  _ must _ know I have to peel and cut all of these,” he said and pointed to the things on the counter. “Prep them for salads - I should be doing this, but instead I’m wasting my time here talking to you. So shut up and let me work, Marimo,” snapped Sanji and Zoro nodded.

That was a lot of work to do only for one person. Zoro didn’t know what had gotten into him - maybe it was the food or maybe it was because he finally had some proper coffee to drink - but he wanted to  _ help _ Sanji. However, he didn’t want ot come across like he cared, so he decided to go for a different approach. He put on a very bored and unbothered expression that he could muster at the moment and opened his mouth. “I can help you with that,” said Zoro. 

Sanji looked at him. “Excuse me?”

“If you wanna I can help you with that,” said Zoro and shrugged it off. Sanji blinked a few times and when the realisation finally settled in that those words really came out of Zoro’s mouth his jaw dropped. Again he was getting mixed signals from him. He really couldn’t figure him out. Usually he had an easy job with reading the people and their true intentions but with Zoro it was like a blank canvass - he could never really know what was on his mind and that was one of the many reasons that he was-

“Pft, yeah right,” said Sanji in the end.

“I’m perfectly capable of cutting a few pieces of vegetables, you know,” said Zoro. Sanji’s words kind of came across as rude to him and he rolled his eyes. “I think that even without a cook school I’m more than qualified to do that,” barked Zoro. It was personal for him; he was aiming to be the best swordsman in the world, so to have someone like Sanji tell him that he wouldn’t be able to cut up a few pieces of vegetables was insulting. Sanji bit his lower lip and looked across the counter.

“Well-”

“I’m good with a sword, so I don’t know why wouldn’t you trust me with a knife,” said Zoro, continuing his rant and when Sanji realised that Zoro was actually pouting he chuckled and agreed to allow Zoro to help him out. That was the only way that he was going to get Zoro to shut up and he was going to get any work done. 

“Fine,” said Sanji. “When you’re finished with food, you may help me,” said Sanji and Zoro visibly cheered up, Sanji smiling along and he looked away. Zoro gobbled down his food quickly and he was quickly over the counter together with Sanji. He wanted to show the cook just how he was good with a sword… well, knife. It had a blade, it was like a sword. If it cut, it was a sword. Sanji was amused and then he took a deep breath and rubbed his palms together.

“What do I do?” asked Zoro. 

“Cut these for me?” asked Sanji and pushed the tomatoes over to Zoro, who quickly nodded and smiled. Okay, this was kind of fun. He was never in the kitchen of a restaurant before let alone helping a chef with cooking. Zoro knew that what he was technically doing wasn’t cooking, but still it made him feel… important. “First - wash your hands,” said Sanji strictly and Zoro rolled his eyes.

“Yes, yes,” said Zoro, dragging himself towards the sink, making sure that his hands were squeaky clean and then groaned. “How about now?” he whined and Sanji handed him the knife. “Finally,” huffed Zoro and his smile was back on his face. Sanji smiled and went ahead by cutting up the tomatoes as well, feeling his cheeks heating up again. Zoro was standing close to him, he was very close to him.  _ They were so close that their shoulders were almost touching.  _ It would be easier to move a bit further away, but Sanji wouldn’t move and he tried his very best not to stare at Sanji again.

“How’s this?” asked Zoro after he cut up his first tomato and Sanji glanced down onto his cutting board and he snorted.

“You’re a natural,” said Sanji and tried not to laugh when he saw how proud Zoro looked all of the sudden.  _ Behind that very stoic exterior there was hiding a huge dork _ and that was something that Sanji managed to figure out pretty much right away since meeting Zoro. He was an interesting guy, definitely-

“See, what did I tell you? I can chop all of these in no time,” said Zoro and Sanji snorted.

“Don’t get too cocky, it’s a hundred years too soon for that,” teased Sanji back and Zoro cracked a smile.

“Pfft.” Zoro’s smile was growing, biting the insides of his cheeks to control his smile a little bit, but Sanji was making him smile beyond belief. The next time that he looked over to Sanji he saw that he had cut more than half of the tomatoes on his side and his jaw dropped. “How the hell did you manage to do that?!” asked Zoro as he was scraping his jaw off the floor and Sanji grinned.

“You might be the master among the swordsmen, but I’m the master in the kitchen,” said Sanji and waggled his eyes. 

“Pssh, I can beat you in it,” said Zoro. “I just wasn’t really focusing,” said Zoro.

“Ah,” said Sanji and laughed softly. “You better focus or Zeff is going to cut off my fingers,” said Sanji, kind of joking and Zoro flinched.  _ What was this old man?!  _ “Cooking should be taken seriously not as a competition,” said Sanji and Zoro bowed his head down, looking like a wounded puppy.

“Fine,” said Zoro and continued cutting his tomatoes at a slower pace. Sanji laughed softly and gently bumped into Zoro’s side. Zoro looked over at him, eyes wide and did the same, bumping into Sanji back with his shoulder. Sanji blinked a few times and then started laughing loudly. Who would have thought that cooking with Marimo would be so much fun?

Zoro smiled as well - it was fun hanging out with Sanji. 


	8. Chapter 8

Sanji was smiling as he was checking himself out in the mirror, making sure that his hair was well-combed, freshly out of the shower, teeth brushed and he was wearing his favourite perfume. He was getting ready to go down to the club and his heart was happily dancing in his chest. He was excited because he knew that in the club he was going to be seeing Zoro. Sanji didn’t even realise how excited he was about the whole thing, slipping into his favourite clothes and he then quickly waltzed over in front of the mirror. He was wearing black trousers, a light pink button up shirt without a tie that time and, unbuttoning the first button at the top of it and he smiled, straightening his clothes and he nodded. All that was left was the jacket and the shoes and he was all going to be set to leave. His heart skipped another beat when the image of Zoro’s face flashed in front of his eyes and his cheeks reddened a little bit, biting into his lip.

It’s been a few days since he had last seen Zoro; the last time that he had seen Marimo was when he came over to Baratie, when he was preparing that breakfast for him and Sanji had a lot of fun with him, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself. But it was fun having someone over when he was prepping the kitchen, even though he and Zoro weren’t supposed to be really getting along, they _ did.  _ He and Zoro had a perfectly normal and civil conversation. Zoro even helped him in the kitchen, which touched Sanji’s heart more than he wanted to admit it. 

Deep down, Zoro was a very funny and kind guy. There was something from the very beginning that caught Sanji’s attention when it came to Zoro and now his interest in the moss head was even bigger, biting into his lip and he looked up to the mirror again, averting his gaze just a little bit because his heart skipped a beat again, puffing his cheeks and he cleared his throat.  _ He didn’t like how thinking about Zoro made him feel like though.  _ Shaking his head, Sanji forced a little smile and he crossed his arms on top of his chest.

_ Wasn’t he a little too excited to be seeing Zoro that evening? _

When that thought crossed Sanji’s mind, his mood quickly worsened and his heart sank down into the pit of his stomach. His hands were shaking slightly and even if he tried to ignore all that he was feeling, he couldn’t. He tried not to think about it, but the more that he tried to ignore what was happening, the more that was the only thing that he could think of, his eyes darkening and he sat down onto the edge of his bed and he spent a few moments like that, trying to collect himself. 

It still confused Sanji what Zoro’s intentions were. At first he thought that Marimo didn’t like him, then he kissed him out of nowhere and then he was helping him in the kitchen - smiling and laughing with him. They were friends? Sanji didn’t know if he would call their relationship like that, but there was something definitely there. And the unknown scared Sanji, because he wished that Zoro would just lay it out for him what he truly wanted. Sanji wasn’t asking, he wasn’t going to make the first move again. He did that once and got terribly burned in the process, his heart twisting as he remembered about…

_ “I-I like you.” _

_ “What?! You’re kidding right?” _

_ “No, I really-” _

_ “Ew, that’s so gross, man. You’re disgusting!” _

Sanji’s eyes snapped open, he was breathing hard and fast and he glanced down, shaking his head. He didn’t think of that moment in a long time, but now lately… because of  _ Zoro _ it was all that he could think of and he didn’t want to. He wished that there was a way for him to wipe that memory from his mind. Feeling his heart fasten from desperation, he bit his lip and stood up, looking over to the mirror and he ran fingers through his combed hair. It didn’t matter how he looked, it didn’t matter. 

Zoro wasn’t- Even if he was, it wouldn’t have mattered. Sanji angrily gritted his teeth and looked himself in the mirror, placing his hand upon the glass and he shook his head. “What the hell am I doing?” asked Sanji, his voice trembling and he sighed under his breath. “Haven’t I learned already?” he whispered, his breathing getting even more rapid and he swallowed down thickly. 

“Just stop already,” muttered Sanji and shook his head. 

* * *

After coming down to the club Sanji had only one plan - getting drunk so that he could forget what was bothering him. Alcohol usually always worked and even though Sanji didn’t like getting drunk out of misery and sadness that day he couldn’t stand back. His head was all over the place, the memories from the past were starting to come out more and more and he cracked - it was as simple as that. So he was sitting behind the bar, having another drink and he hiccupped. He didn’t even know how much he had, but it was starting to work, slowly drowning his worries away and he huffed under his breath.

The old man was going to be pissed again, though when he would come back home hammered like this. That was one of the main reasons why he avoided getting drunk like that, but this time he couldn’t help it. Sanji ordered himself another drink and he quickly gulped it down, eyes scanning the area, trying to scope up a woman that would keep him company for the time being. That was the only thing that he wanted to do, but the one that he managed to find was Zoro, who was standing over by the front door, checking people’s IDs, but he could see that Zoro’s eyes were travelling over to him every now and then and he quickly glanced down.

_ Fuck, so Zoro noticed him!  _ Of course he did. It wasn’t like Sanji’s plan was to avoid him, but still - he was sober enough to be aware of how fast his heart started to beat when their eyes met. He remembered the morning when the two of them were prepping the kitchen together and his heart jumped into his throat. Sanji gritted his teeth; he needed more to forget, his eyes welling up and he angrily cursed. Those were tears of frustration. Also, he was drunk - he could barely control his emotions when he was hammered. Sanji sniffled and emptied down another shot glass, sighing out and he leaned over the bar. 

“I’m so fucked,” mumbled Sanji to himself. 

Sanji was thinking, turning the glass in his hand, getting completely lost in his own little world that he didn’t realise that someone was standing behind him; Zoro. When Zoro spoke up, Sanji flinched. His balance was already compromised as it was, that was why he was leaning over the bar in the first place, anyway. So when Zoro suddenly spoke up, he startled Sanji to the point when the blonde leaned back and almost fell off the stool. Luckily Zoro’s hand was there upon his back to catch him and gently push him forward, Sanji’s eyes wide and Zoro laughed.

“Watch out, cook,” said Zoro and Sanji bit his lip. Zoro let go of Sanji, but the blonde was again swaying on the chair and the green head arched his brow. “How much did you have, anyway?” asked Zoro. He had gotten to the club a bit later than Sanji and ever since his arrival Sanji was slumped over the bar and was drinking away. It was different than the other times. Usually Sanji was laughing loudly when he was drinking; everyone in the club was able to hear him, but this time it was different. There was no smile on his face, there was again that sadness written on his face. Zoro was puzzled. 

“A-as much as I wanted,” replied Sanji, his speech slurred and Zoro arched his brow. “I can drink as much as I want, what’s it to you?” he asked, getting way too defensive and the smile that was on Zoro’s lips was wiped away pretty much straight away. Annoyance was back and he glared at the cook; what did he do this time to deserve this? Zoro knew that Sanji was drunk, but still. Usually the cook was messing around with him and wasn’t like  _ this.  _ What the hell?!

“Someone’s in a good mood,” said Zoro sarcastically and Sanji glared at him.

“Fuck off, I’m not in the mood, Marimo,” grumbled Sanji.

“Oi!” said Zoro and narrowed his eyes. None of this really made much sense. He knew that Sanji and he weren’t friends, but he thought that the last day when he was there at Baratie that they'd gotten closer - somehow. And now he was back at spitting insults into his face? Very well, Zoro didn’t really care about the cook. If he wanted to drink down the whole liquor place then he could do that as well. Because Zoro didn’t care about the idiotic cook at all. Angrily Zoro moved slightly away from Sanji.

“What?” snapped Sanji back.

“I don’t give a fuck, drink as much as you want. But don’t come crying to me for help in the end because I won’t care then,” said Zoro and Sanji scoffed and looked down, hair falling over his eyes.

“It’s not like anyone cares about me anyway,” whispered Sanji. 

Zoro managed to catch that, his eyes wide and he looked around, but Sanji wouldn’t look at him again. He was ordering himself another drink and Zoro swallowed. 

_ What the hell happened?! _

* * *

Zoro decided to stay away from Sanji until the end of his shift. After a little while he didn’t locate Sanji in the club anymore so he kind of figured that maybe he left with someone and he didn’t even try figuring out what in the world was on his mind because he figured that it wasn’t his place to know. Also he didn’t really care, not really. He didn’t want to cause any scene, so he decided to stay away from him - it was as simple as that. It was kind of upsetting that they went back to being hostile towards each other, but Zoro reminded himself that he shouldn’t have expected too much in the first place. Sanji only cooked that meal for him because he was owing him money and that was all. At least it appeared to stop at that, Zoro huffing under his breath as he was slowly getting ready to leave the club.

Trying not to think too much of the idiot, Zoro made his way across the club and said goodbye to his co-workers. After that he was ready to leave - it was a pretty boring evening, not much happened and he was kind of happy about that. Nobody had gotten into a fight and there wasn’t much from him to do other than roam around the club, bored out of his mind. Usually the cook was there to keep him company, but he decided to leave early that day and Zoro shook his head - again, he wasn’t supposed to be thinking so much about him. What the hell?

Sanji looked sad before, but he didn’t care! Pushing those thoughts away, Zoro continued his way through the door and just as he was about to call up the taxi to take him home as he really didn’t feel like walking, he looked over to the side and his eyes widened when he saw Sanji there. Zoro’s jaw almost hit the floor and he cocked his head to the side. The cook was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall of their club and he was… passed out? His eyes were closed, so it sure looked like that. And it didn’t surprise Zoro too much - the idiot drank far too much before. Blinking a few times, Zoro didn’t know what to do.

Zoro was inclined to walk away because Sanji was really rude before. Zoro was nothing but kind to him lately and yet he behaved that way towards him. Then again, it seemed that something was on Sanji’s mind. Zoro was the same; when he was in a bad mood he was also horrible to people around him (minus his friends). Biting into his lip, Zoro stopped after taking a few steps away from Sanji and he was quickly back by his side. Okay, he was going to call him a taxi, ask for his address and take Sanji home like that. That was if he was going to snap back to it enough for him to tell Zoro his address.

Zoro didn’t really know where Sanji lived. He had a feeling that it was somewhere close to Baratie, but that was it apart from that. He couldn’t really leave Sanji by the front door of Baratie either because that would be too cruel  _ and _ humiliating. If any of the other employees there would have seen him passed out like that.  _ No.  _ He couldn’t leave him there and he couldn’t leave him in front of the club. Biting into his lip, Zoro swallowed his pride and went down onto his knees so that he was closer to Sanji and gently shook his by his shoulder.

“Cook!” said Zoro, but he didn’t get any reply from the other. Sanji only whined, mumbled something that Zoro couldn’t make out what it was and he sighed under his breath and shook his head, deciding to try again. “Oi, cook, open your eyes already,” said Zoro, his annoyance growing, but Sanji didn’t really reply to him, rolling his eyes. “Perv!” tried Zoro again, trying to think of another way to get the other’s attention. “Look, there’s some hot girl wanting to get your number,” he carried on, but that didn’t work really and he groaned.

Fine, then what. If that wasn’t going to work then- Zoro grabbed both of Sanji's shoulders and shook him… not too gently. That was finally enough to make Sanji open up his eyes and he whined, looking around because he had no idea where in the world he was. It was dark and the first thing that he saw was Zoro. Sanji’s heart throbbing and he bit his lip. But he was far too hammered to care about his feelings. Instead of feeling sad, he giggled and then blinked a few times.

“Where am I, Marimo?” asked Sanji, slipping back against the wall.

“In front of the club,” said Zoro.

“Oh, yay,” said Sanji. 

“Okay, but you need to go home, okay?” asked Zoro and Sanji nodded. “Great,” huffed Zoro. “I’ll call you a cab,” said Zoro and Sanji was listening, nodding but he didn’t really get what Zoro was saying. Words didn’t have meaning, it was hard for him to comprehend what was going on. “You will tell him the address of your place?” asked Zoro and Sanji narrowed his eyes.

“W-wha-”

“Address… never mind, tell it to me right now before you forget it completely,” said Zoro, taking out the phone out of pocket, but as he was calling the taxi, before someone was able to pick up his call, Sanji was mumbling again and a few seconds later he was passed out again.  _ How amazing.  _ Rolling his eyes, Zoro cancelled the phone call, placed his arms on top of his sides and shook his head. Ugh, what was he supposed to do with Sanji?!  _ There was a third option, but that involved taking Sanji over to his place.  _ And he didn’t know if that was too wise. 

“Perv, tell me your address,” whined Zoro.

“Don’t know it,” mumbled Sanji and Zoro grumbled.

“For fuck’s sake, don’t do this to me,” whined Zoro, walking up and down. In the end there was only one thing he could do…

… piggy back Sanji back to his place. He only hoped that Usopp and Luffy wouldn’t have too many questions. Grumbling, Zoro slowly picked Sanji up, who was somewhat conscious enough to realise that he needed to hold on and not fall. He realised that he was moving, but he didn’t really realise how he was moving, slowly opening his eyes and he narrowed his eyes. Huh, this was really weird. Before he was sitting on the floor and now he was… moving. Somehow. He didn’t really care how nor where he was going. All he knew that comfortable warmth was hugging him and he was happy. Giggling, he pressed himself closer to Zoro, who almost dropped Sanji.

The cook wasn’t heavy at all, but when he suddenly squeezed himself tighter to him, Zoro was caught completely off guard. His cheeks were bright red and he stopped walking.  _ Was the cook making fun of him?  _ Zoro was about to drop the other and yell at him, but then he heard Sanji’s drunken giggles. Sanji liked the way Zoro’s body was warming his own up and he nuzzled into his back happily smiling along. 

“So warm,” mumbled Sanji and Zoro continued to walk, ignoring the way that his heart was hammering in his chest.

Zoro did end up calling a taxi after he came to the main road and not even ten minutes later he was finally carrying Sanji up the stairs to his apartment. Much to his luck neither Usopp or Sanji were in the living room, so he managed to slip into his room without them noticing him and he plopped Sanji down onto his bed, locking the door and narrowed his eyes when he heard a loud  _ ouch _ over from the side and he rolled his eyes. Zoro slowly turned around to face Sanji, hoping that he wasn’t going to freak out after he’d notice that he was suddenly in someone’s room. 

Zoro held in his breath as he slowly came closer to Sanji and then exhaled when he saw that his worries were too much. Sanji was again knocked out, laying on his back just like Zoro placed him there. Zoro shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head. “Just what was on your mind today, cook?” whispered Zoro, his voice low and he bit his lip. Zoro placed his hands on top of his sides and then decided to take at least Sanji’s shoes off to make him a bit more comfortable. Somehow he managed to get the jacket off of him and then he decided that that was enough. 

_ Zoro didn’t want Sanji to murder him the next day. _

Zoro walked over to the side where he had one of his blankets resting over the chair and he placed it over Sanji, biting into his lip as he decided that it was okay to steal a few extra glances from the cook now. Sanji was still mumbling something, but was knocked out more or less. Zoro chewed on his lip and then his eyes stopped on Sanji’s face. Now he looked so peaceful. A little bit grumpy, but also peaceful.

Cute.

Zoro reached in to adjust the blanket a little bit, but Sanji then moved and Zoro’s hand wandered a bit more up, gently skimming the hair that was falling over his eyes over to the side a little bit, swallowing thickly. His hair was so soft. Zoro leaned in a bit more, hovering over Sanji, his heart hammering against his ribcage. Zoro didn’t realise that he was leaning closer and closer, his eyes on Sanji’s lips, until the other moved a little bit. Zoro jumped away from the bed and sat down onto the chair, placing his hand over his heart.

_ Shit, shit, shit!  _ He was just about to kiss Sanji for the second time. He really needed to get himself together or he was going to end up doing something that he wasn’t going to like again. 

Also, how was he in a few hours to explain to the perv cook how he got into his  _ bed?!  _

Zoro’s cheeks reddened once more.

That was right - Sanji was in his bed! Zoro gulped and looked over his shoulder, his heart beating faster again and he shook his head. Maybe it was for the best if he left Sanji in the room alone. 


	9. Chapter 9

Sanji moaned out in discomfort when he opened his eyes. The shine was shining way too brightly for his liking and he wrinkled his nose, turning over onto his side and he pulled the sheets and the bedcovers higher up, pulling them over his head because he wasn’t in the mood to do anything that day. His head hurt and his stomach didn’t feel too hot either; Sanji knew why he was in this state. He could still taste that bitterness on his tongue; he was having a bad hangover and he whined. His mouth felt like the desert, he was thirsty as hell, but he didn’t feel like getting up, slowly pulling the covers down and he peeked slowly. Ugh, it was really bright, it was probably already late into the morning and Zeff was again going to yell at him.  _ How much Sanji didn’t want to listen to his bitching again.  _ Rolling his eyes, Sanji just pulled the sheets over his head again and he shook his head. He wasn’t leaving the bed, he was staying there. It wasn’t like he was in the condition to go to Baratie. He overdid it the previous evening, but at the same time he  _ needed it.  _ Well, that was how he at least coped with those feelings, scoffing under his breath. 

It took Sanji a while to realise that he wasn’t in his own room, that he wasn’t lying in his own bed and it wasn’t until he heard some voices, slowly opening his eyes again and he narrowed his eyes. Did the old man have visitors? He was more of a loner, so that didn’t really happen often. Curiosity got the best of Sanji and despite his laziness, he peeled off the sheets off of his body and his jaw dropped when he finally took a look around the room and he was catapulted up, sitting, feeling dizzy and he blinked a few times. Sanji rubbed his eyes and his eyes widened again. This definitely wasn’t his room.

“Where the hell am I?” asked Sanji and looked down. It was then that he realised that he was still in the clothes from the last evening. Sanji’s eyes scanned the room and he rubbed the back of his neck. He had no idea where he was; did he hook up with some woman? Sanji felt doom creeping in because he couldn’t remember. He remembered being desperate to forget, he was miserable when he was gulping down those drinks. He remembered Zoro at one point joining him at the bar and then he left the bar with someone, but… he kind of blanked after that. So whoever he left last evening, this was their place? Sanji was shaking all over - he didn’t do  _ it _ with them, did he? Sanji’s stomach dropped and turned, feeling sick from both the alcohol and the realisation.

“Shit,” said Sanji, desperate to get the hell out of there. It was even worse that he could clearly hear people outside and there was more than one voice, blinking a few times, trying to even out his breathing. He felt awful, his vision blurring when he got up onto his legs and he had to sit down onto the edge of the bed. He stood up too quickly, his vision getting black and he placed his head between his legs, shaking his head. Right there and then Sanji declared himself like the biggest moron ever. He should have just gotten hammered in his own room. And now what?! He had no idea where he was!

Sanji decided to scope his surroundings, slowly creeping over to the window to see if he would recognise that part of the town, but he had no idea. He’d never been there and he gulped, looking around the room and he rubbed the back of his neck. It didn’t look like a room that would belong to a woman, though. Sanji did have quite a stereotypical vision of what a woman’s room should look like, but still. There were a few clothes neatly folded over on the chair, but they definitely belonged to a guy, Sanji gulping and he rubbed the back of his neck.  _ He left the bar with a man? _

Sanji felt a new wave of nausea coming up, his hands shaking as he slowly made his way to the door and placed his ear against it, trying to listen to what the people outside were talking about, chewing on his lip nervously and he formed a loose fist with his hand, taking in a few deep breaths, but it didn’t really help. His head was still spinning, his heart was hammering against his ribcage and all that he could mostly hear was the sound of his racing heart and… laughter? Whoever it was out there, they surely were having fun. Why were they laughing? Were they talking about him and laughing at him?

Sanji jumped away from the door and then shook his head - he realised that he was being too paranoid at that part; he just needed to loosen up a little bit. Not everyone was out there to get him, chewing on his lip and he then nodded. He needed to calm down, get dressed up properly and then leave the place and ignore the walk of shame that was about to happen. Sighing under his breath, Sanji buttoned up his shirt, fixed his hair a little bit. Luckily he was able to locate his shoes and his jacket. 

Sanji quickly put on his shoes and the jacket, quickly checking his pockets and much to his surprise it was all there - his wallet and his phone, narrowing his eyes. Good! The last time that he went with someone he got pick-pocketed and he bit his lip. At least he picked someone with a common decency, but did they really? Sanji shuddered again and then chewed on his lip.  _ It was for the best if he didn’t remember if something happened, anyway.  _ Pushing those thoughts away, Sanji took a deep breath in and then finally plucked up the courage to step out there, face whoever it was and walk away, far away from them. 

With a shaky hand, he grabbed onto the doorknob and slowly pulled on it. Sanji wanted to get over with it. Sanji took a deep breath in, wished himself good luck and he was on his way, slowly opening the door and he walked as quietly as he possibly could, but there was no way that he could disappear from the apartment without being noticed. He would have to pass the living room and he noticed two people sitting on the couch, flinching a little bit. Both of them were  _ guys.  _

Shit!

One had a long nose and the other was wearing a hat made out of straw for some reason. Sanji looked from side to side and he rubbed the back of his neck. Funny enough, he didn’t remember meeting either of them. Sanji stuffed his hands into his pockets and tried to make himself invisible as he tried to pass by them without being noticed. Not that it would work though, but still - they were distracted by the TV, so Sanji hoped that they wouldn’t see him. But of course as soon as he placed a foot inside of the living room, the guy with the long nose turned around and his jaw dropped because he was as shocked as Sanji to see him there and the blonde gulped.  _ Now what? _

“Who are you?” asked Usopp bluntly and Luffy turned over to his friend as well because he was interested to see who Usopp was talking to. Luffy turned over to Sanji, the blonde one just standing there and blinking. Just like the long nosed guy, the one with the hat was also surprised to see him there -  _ so it was neither of them?  _ Sanji felt relieved and he huffed. Okay, but then who was it?

“Hah?!” shrieked Luffy surprised. “How did you get in here?”

Sanji watched how horror and fear plastered itself over Usopp’s face. “He broke into our place!” shrieked Usopp finally when he realised what was happening. Sanji looked sketchy, Usopp didn’t like the look in his eyes and he was quick on his legs. “Don’t worry, Luffy, I will call the cops!” he announced and Sanji quickly shook his head.

“No need to call the cops, I was just leaving,” said Sanji quickly, feeling annoyed. They were too loud for his liking. His head didn’t like loud sounds at all, he wanted some peace and silence, but they were both now yelling over each other. 

“You’re a thief!” accused him Usopp.

“I-I’m not, I’m-”

“That’s just what a thief would say,” said Luffy and Sanji rolled his eyes.

“Would a thief break in in the morning?” deadpanned Sanji.

“It’s noon,” said Usopp and Sanji’s jaw dropped.

“Old man will kill me, I’m so fucked,” he whined and shook his head. 

“Luffy, get me the phone,” said Usopp and as the two of them were trying to find the phone, Sanji was standing there and rubbing his temples. Those two were dorks. He didn’t like it there, he needed to leave as soon as possible and just as he was about to start walking towards the door again, the door behind him opened and in came walking Zoro. Sanji flinched and jumped over to the side.  _ What the fuck was Zoro doing there?! _ Sanji’s cheeks reddened and he quickly looked away.

Fuck, what in the hell?! Zoro…  _ he left the club with Zoro?!  _ Sanji flinched and he gulped. He had his feelings all under control and hidden when he was sober, but he didn’t trust himself when he was drunk. And suddenly not being able to remember what happened the previous evening scared him. But Zoro wouldn’t… he was straight, probably. He did kiss him that one time, but he could be drunk and- Sanji swallowed and forced himself up to look at Zoro, who looked flustered, but tried his best to keep himself under control.

“Ah, here you are, shit cook,” said Zoro and Sanji bit his lip. 

“You know this guy?” asked Luffy and walked over to Zoro, who nodded.

“Yeah,” said Zoro and huffed. “I brought him here yesterday. I found him passed out in front of our club,” he carried on and Sanji’s cheeks turned even redder, glancing away and he swallowed thickly. That was it though, right? He only brought him over to his place?!  _ How fucking embarrassing was that though?!  _ Zoro was such an idiot that he would never let him forget this. Ugh.

“Cook?” asked Luffy and looked over to Sanji. “Oh, you’re that cook that Zoro ki-”

“Shut up, idiot!” shrieked Zoro all of the sudden and Luffy quickly closed his mouth. Zoro’s cheeks were red and he was angry - he couldn’t believe what Luffy was about to say. Luffy was at first confused because he didn’t realise what he had done wrong, but then he looked over to Sanji, back to Zoro.  _ Ah, these two idiots totally didn’t talk about it yet.  _ Luffy grinned and then walked closer to Sanji, gently tapping his shoulder.

“Zoro has mentioned you before,” was all that Luffy said in the end. Sanji looked at Zoro, who was now looking away from him and he nodded. “I’m Luffy and that guy with a giant nose is Usopp,” he said and Usopp groaned.

“Hey, how many times do I have to tell you? My nose is-”

“Freaking huge,” carried Luffy on.

“Can’t you two be quiet?” whined Zoro and Sanji laughed softly. Ah, so those two were Zoro’s roommates that he mentioned before. Sanji’s smile widened and he huffed in relief at the very end. He was still embarrassed, but it was better. At least now he knew that he wasn’t in the company of any weird people.  _ Well, that was up for a debate.  _ Sanji chuckled, but those two seemed fun.

Zoro’s whine translated as  _ stop it, you two, you are embarrassing me in front of Sanji _ to Usopp and he snorted. He glanced from Sanji then back to Zoro - maybe the two of them should get going so that Sanji and Zoro could talk in private. Luffy and Usopp didn’t really have anywhere to go that day, but there was a look in Zoro’s eyes that said that he wanted to be alone with Sanji and Usopp took a deep breath and then he rubbed his palms together, looking over to Luffy.

“Maybe we should get going?” asked Usopp and Luffy arched his brow.

“Where?” asked Luffy.

“You promised me you would go grocery shopping with me, remember?” asked Usopp and Luffy groaned. It was true, but did they have to go now? He wanted to meet Zoro’s cook better. They could all become friends! A new friend was always welcome in Luffy’s circle and he pouted.

“But do we have to go right now?” whined Luffy and looked at Sanji. “I want to spend more time with Zoro’s cook,” said Luffy bluntly and Sanji’s jaw dropped. Zoro on the other hand had the brightest and deepest flush that his body could muster and he wanted to disappear.  _ Luffy was too blunt sometimes.  _ And now Sanji was going to get a totally different idea about- Sanji wasn’t  _ his _ cook, he was just  _ a  _ cook. 

“His name is Sanji,” grumbled Zoro quickly, but didn’t dare to look at Sanji. “Please get him out of here,” whispered Zoro as he stepped closer to Usopp, who gave him thumbs up and despite all of the whining and complaining a few minutes later, Luffy and Usopp were out of the door and thus Sanji and Zoro were alone in the apartment. Zoro sighed in relief, but then he glanced over at Sanji and he froze again.  _ Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to be completely alone with Sanji again.  _ Zoro swallowed.

“Your roommates really are something else,” said Sanji and finally broke the silence. Zoro snorted and then walked over to the couch, plopping down on it. Sanji still stood there, but he slowly walked over to Zoro and sat down next to him, but on a completely other side of the couch, leaving a big distance between the two of them and Zoro arched his brow. 

“Ah, yeah, Usopp and Luffy are really loud,” said Zoro and Sanji grinned. Silence fell between them again.

“S-say,” said Sanji and Zoro glanced over to him. “About last evening,” he said. “My memories are kind of hazy,” he said and Zoro nodded. Well, it wasn’t really a surprise. “What… I mean how did I end up… I mean nothing happened…. I, well-” was stammering Sanji, stumbling over the words and Zoro sighed.

“I have no idea what had gotten into you yesterday,” said Zoro. “When I came to the club you were already gobbling down drinks over at the bar like a champ. I tried stopping you, but you told me to fuck off,” said Zoro and Sanji chewed on his lip.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, whatever,” said Zoro. “You disappeared after a while and when I was going home I found you in front of the bar, completely out of it,” said Zoro. “I tried calling a taxi for you, but you didn’t remember your address,” he said and rolled his eyes. Sanji snorted and Zoro glared at him. “Not funny. I had to  _ carry _ you and then I brought you here,” said Zoro. “It was that or leaving you in front of Baratie,” he said and Sanji’s jaw dropped.

“Thank god that the moss didn’t eat up all of your brain cells,” said Sanji and rolled his eyes. If Zoro left him in front of Baratie - that would be a recipe for a disaster. Zoro didn’t say anything. Instead, he kept looking at Sanji - he looked paler than usual. His hair was all messy and Zoro could tell that Sanji was suffering from a very bad hangover.  _ Served him right for being such a dick to him yesterday. _

“You look like shit, by the way,” said Zoro and Sanji glared at him.

“Thank you very much for your imput, you stupid Marimo,” said Sanji and rolled his eyes. He wished he could say something snarky back as a comeback, but he had nothing and his stomach made a weird sound. Zoro noticed the change in the blonde’s behaviour as well, so he moved a bit closer to him, but couldn’t really get a closer look at his face. Sanji was looking down, his hair falling over his eyes and Zoro was annoyed.

“Oi, are you okay?” asked Zoro and in the heap of the moment placed his hand on top of Sanji’s forehead and tilted it back. Sanji gasped when he felt Zoro’s big and rough, yet somewhat gentle palm upon his forehead, lifting his head up and back. His heart was beating with the speed of light once more and he felt his throat getting dry.  _ Zoro was too close. _

Sanji saw that Zoro’s lips were moving, but he couldn’t really make out what he was saying. He was way too fixated on how close the two of them were. Zoro smelled fresh; sandalwood. Freshly out of shower? The last time that they were this close - when Zoro kissed him - he could smell booze on him. But this time it was different, Sanji gasping under his breath and he bit his lip, trying to snap himself back to reality, but he  _ couldn’t _ . Zoro’s dark eyes were staring into his blue orbs and he was mesmerised. Zoro’s eyes were dark and they carefully studied him. Sanji huffed under his breath and glanced down, but his eyes were soon to be locked back with Zoro’s ones. 

“I’m fine,” heard himself say Sanji and Zoro hummed.

“You sure?” asked Zoro carefully. “I can bring you something to drink, though,” said Zoro, slowly bring his hand down when he realised that he was still touching Sanji and he cleared his throat. “I can offer you some food, though I don’t know if you’re in the mood for anything,” said Zoro and snorted. 

_ Again he was so kind to him.  _ Sanji wished that he wasn’t because it made his heart clench, chewing on his lip and he forced himself to shake his head. “N-no, that’s okay,” said Sanji and then shrugged it off. “I think I’ll spare myself the suffering,” teased Sanji and Zoro cocked his head, but he soon realised that Sanji was making fun of his cooking? Hah. Even heavily hung over he was still messing around with him. Zoro liked that about him and he rolled his eyes.

“Pfft, you’d only be so lucky. Maybe my cooking isn’t restaurant level cooking, but I can still… oi, stop laughing,” said Zoro and narrowed his eyes. Sanji was laughing suddenly and he didn’t like it because he was laughing  _ at _ him and being laughed at was something that Zoro’s ego didn’t really handle too well, glaring at Sanji. 

“I didn’t mean to laugh, sorry, sorry… I bet you’re probably decent at cooking,” said Sanji, snorting when he saw how red Zoro’s cheeks were. It was surprisingly easy to make Zoro flush once you knew him well enough. And it was fun messing around with him like that, he always gave him the most amazing reactions, chuckling. Sanji leaned back against the couch and his eyes travelled to Zoro’s earrings. He was always kind of curious about those. Also Zoro looked ridiculously hot with those. 

“Why the creepy stare?” snapped Zoro when he saw Sanji looking his way and the cook rolled his eyes.

“I was just thinking,” grumbled Sanji.

“Uh-oh, here we go again,” said Zoro and made a face,

Sanji was far too hungover to care about that. “What’s with the earrings?” asked Sanji and Zoro got defensive.

“Hah?! You’ve got a problem with my earrings?!”

“N-not at all,” said Sanji quickly. He didn’t expect Zoro to get so… protective of his earrings. Huh. Kind of weird. “I was just curious,” he said and shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter, anyway,” he said and pouted. “They look cool though,” he added and Zoro visibly cheered up after that.

“Right?!” asked Zoro and quickly toned it down after he realised that he was  _ too _ keen about it. Pulling back a little bit, Zoro cleared his throat and he hummed. 

“Do they have any special… sentimental value or they just look cool?” asked Sanji and snickered.

“Kind of?” asked Zoro and Sanji saw that the other was getting shy about it. “I have this unique way in kendo… where I’m using three swords,” said Zoro and Sanji was intrigued. “And, well, that’s supposed to represent three swords. I don’t know, it’s kind of lame, I know, but-”

“Oh, that’s cool,” said Sanji and Zoro looked up at him.  _ Cool? _ People - apart from his friends - found it boring when he would talk about kendo. But Sanji found it cool? Sanji wasn’t really thinking when he reached out with his hand and gently touched the golden earrings. Smiling, Sanji found them now even cooler since he knew the meaning behind them. The back of his palm gently touched Zoro’s neck as he was taking a closer look at Zoro’s earrings. 

Sanji didn’t realise how close they were again, did he? Zoro gulped and huffed under his breath, trying to control his heart, but his hand came up on his own, his fingers going around Sanji’s wrist and Sanji froze. “Cook, what are you doing?” whispered Zoro and Sanji flinched.  _ Fuck, why was he- _ All of the colour drained from Sanji’s face and he wanted to withdraw his hand, but Zoro kept it in place and he looked down.

“I-I’m sorry, I-”

“Cook.”

“Let go off my hand, idiot,” said Sanji, his voice coming out as a mere whisper. Zoro did eventually let go off Sanji’s hand, but before the blonde was able to stand up, Zoro’s body moved on its own, grabbing the back of Sanji’s neck and he pulled him in. Sanji forgot how to breathe when he felt Zoro’s lips upon his own and his eyes grew wide - fuck, again? Zoro was kissing him again?

Zoro didn’t know what came over him, but in the heap of the moment he reached in and kissed the damn cook again. It’s been on his ever since their first kiss - how good Sanji’s lips felt upon his, how much he wanted to taste them again and when Sanji was leaning over and touching his neck like that - without being aware of it - Zoro snapped and went in for a kiss. It was different than the last time though. It wasn’t rough, it was slower and softer, Sanji sitting there completely petrified, keeping his hands to himself.

Zoro groaned as he pressed his lips upon Sanji’s again, the blonde’s eyes slowly falling shut - he loved the feel of Zoro’s lips upon his. Ever since Zoro kissed him the first time he wanted to feel them again and this time he cracked and kissed Zoro back. Desperately. Hungrily. He’s been holding back for years, kissing the green haired man like a starving man. There was only one thing that was going to quench his thirst and it was Zoro.

Surprised by the kiss that he got in return, Zoro pulled back, but Sanji kissed him again. It was like a switch went off in Sanji. Zoro allowed Sanji to deepen their kiss and the blonde licked himself into Zoro’s mouth. He could taste mint on his tongue, gasping softly and he leaned up a little bit, moaning along when Zoro was eagerly returning him the kisses, feeling Zoro’s thumb travel to the front of his throat and he let out a desperate groan. He loved the way Zoro was holding him, having Sanji at his mercy.

Zoro’s heart was speeding up, his head was spinning - the feeling was mutual then? Sanji was attracted to him? It didn’t make sense, Sanji was always surrounding himself with women, but he didn’t really care. Maybe he swung both ways, or maybe it was just Zoro that he liked. The swordsman didn’t care. What mattered was that Sanji was attracted to him and he gently bit his lower lip, sucking on it.  _ Sanji would be up for it?  _ They could be friends with benefits, or-

Zoro was about to start unbuttoning Sanji’s shirt when the front door suddenly swung open and just like the kiss started, it ended. Sanji jumped away and Zoro was beyond pissed off, glaring over to the door, where he saw the poor and unfortunate soul - Usopp, who was there to pick up the wallet that he forgot to take with him. He didn’t expect to walk in on the other two making out, blinking a few times. He wanted to apologise and let them have their fun, but Sanji was on his legs and practically running to the door. Zoro was-

“I-it’s getting late, I’ll be on my way,” said Sanji and Zoro stood up, walking after him, but Sanji was faster. “T-thank you for everything. I’ll, um, pay you back somehow,” mumbled Sanji, avoiding Usopp’s gaze. “It was nice to meet you Usopp and say, um, hi to Luffy,” he carried on, bowing down. “W-well then, bye,” he said and before Zoro was able to even say a word, the other was gone. 

What the-

“Zoro, you need a new kissing technique. He’s running again,” said Usopp and Zoro glared at him.

“I need a new non-cockblocking roommate,” snapped Zoro. “What if I really do suck so much?” shrieked Zoro, his soul almost leaving his body. “W-w-what if I-” he carried on, starting to question his whole existence. “What if I-”

“Being melodramatic doesn’t suit you, Zoro,” said Usopp and waved it off. “Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, how about you join Luffy and me in the cinema?” offered Usopp and Zoro felt deflated, but grateful. Going out with friends would do him good, especially now that his self-esteem was trampled. Twice. And next time that he’d be able to see Sanji he was going to ask him. Properly. 

“Okay,” said Zoro and sighed. “Just let me get changed,” said Zoro and Usopp nodded. 


	10. Chapter 10

Sanji wasn’t showing at the club anymore. Again a week passed and Zoro’s hopes of ever seeing the blonde cook again were getting thinner and thinner. He didn’t know what to do at that point; the only thing that was there left to do was to go over to the Baratie and try talking to him there, but it wasn’t… he wanted to have a proper talk with Sanji somewhere in private, but that was probably impossible at that point, wasn’t it? Zoro was so puzzled, wandering around the club, his head down and he sighed, feeling annoyed. Honestly he knew that he shouldn’t have kissed Sanji  _ twice _ , but if he wouldn’t have kissed him for the second time, he wouldn’t have known that Sanji was probably attracted to him as well, right? Because that kind of a kiss…

The way that Sanji kissed him the other day was different. It wasn’t a simple kiss, it wasn’t a peck, but he really went in there and kissed him properly. It was a deep and hungry kiss, he could feel the other man’s hunger on his lips and he didn’t know what would have happened between them if Usopp wouldn’t have walked in on them. He still felt annoyed at his roommate for ruining the moment, but at the same time it was maybe for the best. Honestly, he was so confused, running his fingers through his hair and he chewed on his lip. If Sanji was attracted to him, why didn’t he say something about it? Why did he run away from him? Sanji liked the kiss, he didn’t care what Usopp said about his kissing technique - what did that idiot know, anyway?

Sanji liked the kiss, because Zoro could feel him melting right there next to him, going in for more and more. Sanji couldn’t get enough of their kiss and neither could Zoro. There were so many things that he wanted to do to Sanji and wouldn’t it be perfect? From what Zoro knew about Sanji, the blonde wasn’t really the type that liked commitment. Zoro also wasn’t sure if he was in the mood to start anything serious, but something casual like hooking up every now and then sounded more than perfect. Sanji would be in to start a friendship with benefits? Zoro’s grin widened and he puffed his cheeks.

Perhaps not. Maybe Sanji made a mistake by kissing him back like that. He could have caught him in the moment, but something told Zoro that there was something more to that as well. Biting into his lip, Zoro closed his eyes and allowed the memories to flood his mind again. The way that Sanji was softly whimpering into their kiss. He was quite responsive, huh? How his tongue tasted, brushing against his own. Zoro felt excitement rushing through his body and he groaned, opening his eyes again and he shook his head.  _ Ugh, he needed to get laid so bad!  _ And currently the shit cook was first on his  _ to-do  _ list. Rolling his eyes, Zoro clicked with his tongue and slowly moved to the other side of the club, pretending that he had everything under control, but internally he was screaming.

How dared the cook kiss him back and now not come to the club?! Zoro was so frustrated, walking up and down. At least to Zoro it was simple - the two of them fit together perfectly, he could feel it when they kissed. It felt natural kissing Sanji, they moved together in synch and Zoro knew just how amazing it could have been if Sanji would only stop avoiding him and  _ talk _ to him about it. But talking about feelings wasn’t really Zoro’s forte really either. Zoro’s eyes widened a little bit and he scoffed. Wait, did he really think about  _ talking about feelings?  _ There weren’t many feelings though. Well, lust was a feeling. Zoro narrowed his eyes and he groaned.

Everything was slowly getting almost too complicated for the green haired man and he looked over to the door again, heart leaping up to his throat when he saw a blonde head standing out from the rest of the crowd. The person was turned away from Zoro, so he couldn’t see his face, but he was pretty sure that it was Sanji - who else could it be? Zoro put on his usual cocky grin, fixed his hair a little bit and slowly walked over to the other. Ah, he was going now to mess around with him a little bit and then try to talk about the  _ kiss?  _ And maybe they could get to the  _ good _ part of him telling Sanji the preposition - for them to hook up and have a little bit of fun.

Zoro rubbed his palms together and then tapped the man’s shoulder. The other was still turned away from him and it annoyed Zoro - he was still going to avoid and ignore him? Oh, no, not on his watch! “Oi, shit cook, you finally decided to show your face here again,” said Zoro and then rolled his eyes. “Took you long enough,” he carried on, but then the other turned around, wearing a confused expression on his face and Zoro quickly backed away because-

_ That wasn’t Sanji!  _

How the hell did he manage to mix them up? It was true that he couldn’t see his face but now that he was closer to him he could easily tell that it wasn’t Sanji. He was much taller than the cook, much strongly built and  _ just not him.  _ Zoro’s cheeks reddened with embarrassment and he cleared his throat. Shit! But to him it really looked like him from afar! His wishful thinking got the best of him and made him see Sanji. 

“What the hell, man?” asked the other and Zoro chewed on his lip. Right, he called him  _ shit cook, _ which was an insult and Zoro quickly bowed his head down apologetically and groaned.

“Sorry, dude, I thought you were someone else,” said Zoro and immediately turned around and started walking away from him. He could hear the other laughing at him and poking fun, gritting his teeth. His pride and ego were suffering, but he didn’t want to get into a fight. Especially when he was the one that was at fault there. As the laughing was growing, Zoro decided that he had heard enough and he had to step out a little bit to catch some fresh air.

Seriously, why was Sanji avoiding him so much again?

* * *

“It’s a miracle, not going out again?” asked Zeff and Sanji glanced away and rolled his eyes. Sanji wasn’t in the mood to talk about it, sitting by the table with the old man and was silently smoking. He was awfully quiet for the last past days and as much as Zeff appreciated it, it was also  _ weird.  _ Sanji could tell that Zeff’s eyes were on him and he grumbled under his breath. The old man narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “What’s up, boy?” he asked and Sanji shrugged it off.

“Nothing, leave me alone, old man,” said Sanji and Zeff rubbed the back of his neck and studied the londe for a little while. He folded his arms on top of his chest and was only carefully studying the other’s face. Sanji knew what he was doing and it annoyed him. “Stop staring at me,” whined Sanji and Zeff slowly straightened himself up on the chair and hummed.

“You’re too quiet,” said Zeff.

“I thought you’d appreciate it,” said Sanji and clicked with his tongue. “Aren’t you the one that’s always telling me how much I run my mouth too much?” asked Sanji, blowing out the smoke and glanced away. “Even prohibited me from seeing out customers,” he said and rolled his eyes. Zeff scoffed and then shook his head because he knew what the other was doing - he was trying to change the topic of the conversation. Zeff was going to play along, but he was also trying to come to the bottom of it all. At the end of it all, he did deeply care about Sanji, who was like a son to him and he could tell when something was wrong.

“That’s your own fault,” said Zeff and Sanji rolled his eyes. “You were driving our customers away, what else was I supposed to do? You’re too cocky,” said Zeff and Sanji rolled his eyes. “Still too young to understand,” said the older man and Sanji only glared at him - he was always telling him that.  _ How he was going to understand it when he would get older.  _ But he did get older and he still stood by it.

“If people don’t have manners, you have to hammer it into them,” said Sanji simply and Zeff didn’t say much. “Didn’t you tell me that?” he asked and a playful smirk spread across Zeff’s lips. 

“Your hearing is very selective as always I see,” said Zeff who was trying to hammer some other values into Sanji’s mind, but he only listened to  _ some _ of them. Others he ignored and Sanji folded his arms on top of his chest and shook his head. “Don’t try to deny it,” he said and Sanji looked away, but the smile was already tugging at his lips and he chuckled. The two of them had an interesting relationship. They bickered a lot, but Sanji knew that he could always count on the other. “So,” said Zeff and Sanj arched his brow.

“So?”

“Why have you been acting so strange?”

“I haven’t,” mumbled Sanji and Zeff snorted.

“You’ve always been unable to lie to me, come on,” said Zeff and Sanji rolled his eyes. Ugh, he wasn’t in the mood. “Suddenly you’re home all of the time, which don’t get me wrong I don’t mind, but some peace and quiet would do me good,” he said and Sanji didn’t know if he should laugh or not.  _ Zeff wanted him to go out so that he could have some peace?  _ Sanji laughed and waved it off.

“Don’t feel like it anymore, that’s all.”

“Ah,” said Zeff and then sighed, shaking his head again. He knew that it was no use trying to get answers out of Sanji when he wasn’t ready to tell him what was bothering him. Sanji was very stubborn - much like Zeff himself. Sanji was always bottling things up until the point when he exploded one day when it became too much and Zeff looked over at Sanji, who was happily smoking in peace and he hummed.

_ He wished he wasn’t going to keep bottling things up for too long this time around, though.  _

* * *

“Stupid old man, making me stay home,” ranted Sanji, walking around the living room. It was the next day and Zeff made him stay home that day. Why? Because according to him he was working too hard lately. He didn’t know what he meant by that. Was he staying over at the kitchen way much longer so that he would be somewhat distracted from all of the shit that he was going through lately? Maybe? But he didn’t mind it, it helped him pretend that he was doing okay. Also, why wasn’t Zeff happy about it, though? 

Sanji didn’t really see a problem with it, not really. Cooking helped him cope with things. Maybe, yes, he was tired from working over time, but he didn’t really mind it. It made him happy and it quieted down those annoying voices in his head that were always making him think about Zoro and his feelings that were there towards Marimo. No matter how much he wanted to avoid the truth, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to run away from them forever. But at least until he could, he was going to keep running avoiding the truth. Clicking with his tongue, Sanji stood up and angrily kicked the wall.

There, he was thinking about the idiotic swordsman again and he didn’t even know how he had gotten to that point, shaking his head and he bowed his head down, feeling kind of desperate. He wished that he could somehow turn it off, but no matter what he did it wasn’t working - why was Zoro just so… ugh! Sanj pursed his lips and ran fingers through his hair, groaning along as he was still feeling sorry for himself. 

He couldn’t like Zoro - he was into women! Back then when he thought that he had feelings for his classmate… he was mistaken. Sanji liked women and he was sure of that. And the feelings and attraction that he had for Zoro? Biting into his lip, Sanji glanced down and shook his head. It was another fluke. Right? Being around women made him relaxed, they were easy to talk to, so that meant that he was into women, right? Sanji gritted his teeth, glancing away and his shoulders slumped down.

Oh, who was he kidding? Just one simple kiss from Zoro made his world crumble completely apart. One simple kiss was able to make him feel such hunger and lust that he hadn’t experienced… Sure, kissing a woman was nice, but it was nothing special. But kissing Zoro was amazing. It felt right, so, so right. It made him wonder how amazing it would be to take things even further, but Zoro was…  _ well, Sanji didn’t know what to think.  _ His past experiences made him think that he didn’t have one single chance for a happy relationship with someone that he truly liked.

Sanji’s classmate made it insufferable for him. Yes, Sanji thought that he had romantic feelings for his classmate so he did the only thing that he could think of - tell him about it. He confessed and he didn’t really have much hopes to get those feelings returned back. He knew that the other liked girls, so that wasn’t why he did it. But he couldn’t keep them hidden away from the other forever. And because they got along so well, he thought he would accept him, but he didn’t. He made the last of highschool experience for Sanji a living and walking hell.

It wasn’t only him that bullied Sanji; he got more people on his side and it was horrible. Still, Sanji didn’t tell anyone about it. It was his burden to carry and because he never wanted to experience that again he decided to surround himself with women. He was doing okay until now. Until Zoro walked in and turned his life completely upside down. He made him remember how he felt at that time… he didn’t want to. Yes, his feelings were growing, but he promised to himself to never act upon them. Zoro wasn’t the only guy that he was attracted to throughout all these years, but he was the first one that made him  _ crack _ like that. 

Sanji puffed his cheeks and slowly dragged himself over into the living room. He was about to plop down onto it, but then there was a knock on the door and he groaned. Ugh, who was it now? Maybe it was the old man trying to get him to come down to Baratie after all? Rolling his eyes, Sanji walked over to the door and rolled his eyes. He unlocked it, grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. “Didn’t you tell me to stay home, old man? Finally realised how much I’m needed down at...” started Sanji, but he saw that the one standing in front of the door was  _ Zoro _ not Zeff. Sanji jumped back and in a state of panic tried to close the door immediately.

Zoro was faster - he jammed his foot in there, which prevented Sanji from closing the door shut. As Sanji slammed the door, Zoro whined out in pain and Sanji quickly released and opened the door again, eyes wide in surprise.  _ Oh, no, what did he do?!  _ Sanji felt bad as he glanced down. “You shitty cook, are you trying to kill me?!” snapped Zoro and Sanji glared back at him.

“Who told you that it was a good idea to place your foot there?” snapped Sanji back. “Not really a surprise there, though, you’re… wait, what are you doing here?” asked Sanji carefully.  _ And how did he find his place?  _ Sanji bit his lip and then clasped his hands together. “You’re a stalker,” said Sanji and Zoro rolled his eyes.

“No,” whined Zoro, bending down to massage his achy foot. The cook was so stupid, ugh!

“How did you find this place?”

“I asked around,” said Zoro and Sanji didn’t have an impressed look on his face and Zoro rolled his eyes. “I went to Baratie, you weren’t there and they told me where you live,” said Zoro and Sanji’s jaw dropped.  _ They told the idiot where he lived?!  _ Sanji face-palmed himself and then shook his head. 

“Idiots, I can’t believe they just told you like that,” said Sanji and shook his head. Why wasn’t he surprised though?

“Well, I might have used some… persuasive methods,” said Zoro and Sanji glanced over him and he arched his brow. What did he do? Ugh, he was so… stupid and annoying. “Let me in, I need to sit. You crushed by foot, idiot,” said Zoro and invited himself inside of Sanji’s place, limping over to the couch in the living room and continued checking if the blonde didn’t break his toes before. 

“Does it hurt a lot?” asked Sanji, his voice much softer as he followed Zoro into the living room and Zoro glared at him. 

“You think?!”

“I’m sorry,” whispered Sanji and slowly came closer to the other, but didn’t sit down.

“You better be,” said Zoro and then glanced up to the cook. “You gonna just stand there? Offer me some ice, at least,” groaned Zoro and Sanji flinched and quickly nodded.  _ Right!  _

“Yes, I’ll go for the ice pack, wait here,” said Sanji.

“Ah, yes, because I had plans to  _ walk _ away,” said Zoro and Sanji rolled his eyes.

“So dramatic,” said Sanji, but quickly left the room. Zoro didn’t have to wait for too long though, Sanji soon came back with an ice pack and handed it to the greed head, who quickly placed it on top of his foot and sighed. Sanji didn’t dare to sit down next to the other, he was completely stiff and was awkwardly just standing there, looking around, trying to say something. Right, he should ask him why the hell he came over to his place. Biting into his lip, Sanji took a deep breath in and wanted to say something, but-

“You’re just gonna stand there?” Zoro asked and Sanji flinched. “Sit down, I feel uncomfortable with you staring down on me like this. There’s enough space on this couch for both of us, no?” Zoro asked and Sanji’s eyes travelled over to the couch. Eventually the cook nodded and sat down, but made sure that he was keeping the biggest distance he could. He didn't want to be too close to the other - he didn’t trust him. The other day he kissed him out of the blue and hsi cheeks heated up.  _ Shit, he didn’t want to be thinking about that again! _

“Why are you-”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, I’m not gonna bite you. You don’t have to keep so much distance between the two of us,” said Zoro and rolled his eyes. Ugh, so this was why Sanji was avoiding him. It made sense - he was afraid of him now? Zoro didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, really. “Is this why you’ve been avoiding coming to the club?” asked Zoro and Sanji chewed on his lip and shrugged.

“Why are you here?”

“I needed to talk to you but you were avoiding me so here I am,” said Zoro and grumbled under his breath. “Maybe it was a mistake after all,” he said and rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to make such a disgusted face, you know. Even  _ I _ can take a hint when someone’s not interested in me. Though you did kiss me back that day, but I guess I was just… never mind. I suppose I was wrong, you’re only into women,” said Zoro and shook his head. Sanji’s eyes widened -  _ wait, what?  _ Was he for real? Did he really want to seriously talk abou that kiss? It made Sanji nervous, but at the same time, he was also-

“I-I-”

“Look, I’ll stop bothering you,” said Zoro. “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not gonna jump you or anything like that. I’ll keep my distance from now on,” he said and huffed under his breath. “Can’t believe I came all the way here to-” said Zoro, but bit his lip. Sanji’s heart jumped.  _ To what?  _ “Nevermind, this is embarrassing. I’m gonna leave, I think it’s for the best anyway,” said Zoro, leaving the ice pack on the coffee table. He stood up and started leaving. 

Sanji’s heart was beating hard and uneven.  _ Hold on, hold on!  _ Zoro couldn’t leave, not now when he was about to confess…  _ what was he going to confess? Why did he make his way all the way down to his place?  _ Sanji took a deep breath in and bit his lip. If Zoro was going to say what Sanji was thinking he couldn’t let him leave like so. While it was true that Sanji was burnt once in the past but that time feelings weren’t mutual. Now Zoro was telling him that… their feelings were mutual? That Zoro felt the same romantic feelings for him? Without thinking twice, Sanji bolted on his legs and ran after Zoro before he managed to even reach the door of the living room.

Sanji bumped against Zoro’s back. “Wait,” whispered Sanji, his heart beating fast and he was trying to control his breathing, but it was impossible. If… if Zoro was trying to tell him that he liked him before he needed to speak up as well, chewing on his lip and he clutched onto Zoro’s shirt and pulled him back a little bit. Sanji placed his forehead against Zoro’s nape and Zoro’s eyes widened. What was happening?!

“Cook, what the-”

“T-the truth is,” whispered Sanji and shook his head.  _ Okay, he could do this.  _ “I-I prefer men,” mumbled Sanji, finally saying those words out loud after years of keeping it hidden and he needed a moment to collect himself. Zoro’s eyes widened. He was very confused - then why was he hooking up with women only? Maybe he swung both ways, Zoro also didn’t care about gender. He swung all ways - if he found someone hot, he did. Gender didn’t matter. To him it was never a problem, he never worried too much about that, unlike Sanji over there who was trying to run away from the truth for years now.

And Sanji promised - he promised himself that he wasn’t going to ever tell anyone, but Zoro made it sound like… He needed to tell him the complete truth, clutching onto Zoro’s shirt tighter, swallowing thickly and he took a deep breath again. His heart was hammering hard.  _ Did Zoro even know how important this was to him?  _ God, Sanji hoped because if Zoro was to say something insensitive, Sanji didn’t know how he’d cope. He was bearing his feelings. 

“I’m gay… I think,” muttered Sanji. “I-I tried with women, but it never… I mean I’ve never even… doesn’t matter. Being around them keeps the rumours away about me liking men. I-I’m not even out to-” said Sanji, his train of thoughts scattered all over. “I-if you keep making passes at-at me like this or if you say things that are… you’ll make me expect  _ more _ . And I don’t want to…  _ shit, _ ” whispered Sanji. “I also… for you, I-”

Sanji tried explaining how he felt about Zoro, but the other quickly moved around and kissed him. This time Sanji didn’t try pushing him away, instead he kissed him back right away. Zoro didn’t say anything, but Sanji thought that they were on the same page and just for a split second he managed to believe that it was actually possible.  _ To love and be loved.  _ Marimo was stupid and annoying, but he was also… so much more. Zoro didn’t hesitate to deepen the kiss, licking himself inside of Sanji’s mouth and he groaned when he could taste the bitter taste of cigarettes on Sanji’s tongue. Usually he hated it, but now when it came to Sanji - he found it addictive, going in for more and Sanji was soon shaking in Zoro’s arms, which were wrapped around his thinner frame. Zoro dragged his tongue over his lower lip and grinned when they pulled apart.

“Hell,” groaned Zoro and Sanji laughed breathlessly. “So it’s fine,” said Zoro and Sanji smiled, looking down. He didn’t like how shy he felt all of the sudden, but there was a smile one his face and he couldn’t stop smiling. He was  _ happy. _

“Y-yeah,” said Sanji shyly. “I lik-”

“It’s fine to hook up, right?” asked Zoro and the romantic mood in the room was immediately interrupted. Sanji was confused -  _ hook up?  _ Wait, was this all it was for Marimo? Them hooking up? He only wanted to get into his pants? Sanji looked down and gritted his teeth; he should have known that it was too easy. Zoro didn’t look like a serious type. Sanji felt like an idiot for almost blurting out about how he really felt about him.

“Hook up?” whispered Sanji and swallowed. 

“Yes,” said Zoro. “I’ll show you what real pleasure feels like,” said Zoro, hooked his thumbs under the loops of the belt on Sanji’s jeans and the blonde one wasn’t in the mood to listen anymore. “We could be… friends with benefits. We’ll work on the  _ friends _ part, but something tells me we’ll be more than compatible in-”

“I think you were right before,” said Sanji, his voice cold and he wouldn’t look at Zoro because it hurt too much. 

“Yes?”

“You should really get the hell out,” said Sanji and Zoro’s jaw dropped. What was the cook’s problem now?! They were on the same page, no? Zoro wouldn’t move, so Sanji decided to kick him out on his own. He grabbed Zoro’s wrist and quickly started dragging him towards the door.

“Wait, idiot, what did I-”

“You’re such an insensitive jerk, Zoro,” whispered Sanji after he shoved Zoro through the front door. Everything was happening too fast for Zoro to register that he was actually already standing outside. And Sanji called him by his first name. “I can’t believe I actually thought,” said Sanji, voice trailing off and he shook his head. He gazed over to Zoro and the other’s eyes widened. Sanji was on the verge of tears? Zoro made a step back and his heart dropped.

What?

“Leave me alone from now,” said Sanji and slammed the door shut, leaving Zoro on the street alone and Zoro didn’t move for a while. He knew that he did something horribly wrong because he felt like shit yet he couldn’t figure it out…  _ was it something that he said?  _

It wasn’t until much later when he was in his room still thinking that it hit him like a ton of bricks.  _ Sanji was about to say something when he interrupted him.  _

_ “I lik-” _

_ “It’s fine to hook up, right? _

Zoro stuffed his face into the pillow and screamed. “I am a fucking idiot.”


	11. Chapter 11

“Repeat it again,” said Nami, her eyes wide and she was shaking her head because she couldn’t believe what Zoro had just told her. Zoro was in a horrible mood ever since he realised his mistake when it came to Sanji. When he realised what Sanji was about to tell him, he went ahead and ruined the whole thing completely. Zoro still wasn’t too sure how he felt about Sanji - if there was more to his feelings than just attraction - but he was well aware how much of a dick he came out to be. He made it seem like he was only trying to get into Sanji’s pants and he didn’t even consider the other’s feelings. At all. And when he realised that Sanji had basically  _ come out _ to him back then… he wanted to slam his head against a hard wall repeatedly. How could he have been so thick-headed. Seriously?!

Zoro only heard what he wanted to hear - that Sanji was into him. Which was fine in it of itself, but when he added all of the other layers onto  _ that _ … he knew that it was much much more than that. He was selfish back then and he felt horrible about it. It was one of the rare moments when Zoro didn’t even try arguing that he was in the wrong.  _ He knew that what he did was wrong, but he didn’t know how to apologise to Sanji.  _ The cook wouldn’t be probably even interested in hearing his apology, anyway.

Sanji told him to stay away from now on and Zoro was doing that as he didn’t want to piss the other off any further, but it still wouldn’t leave him alone. He felt horrible, he wanted Sanji to know that. It was annoying that he didn’t even have his phone number. He should have asked for it a while back, it would make things so much easier. But he didn’t have it and that complicated things, rolling his eyes and he flinched when he saw the look on Nami’s face. She looked pissed off and Zoro blinked a few times, clasping his hands together and he smiled awkwardly. 

“R-repeat what again?” asked Zoro painfully slowly and Nami crossed her arms on top of her chest and shook her head.  _ He had to be kidding her, right? _ When Zoro told her what he did when Sanji told him how he felt about him… it pissed her off. Zoro could be really insensitive at times without even wanting to be. Even if that was true he should have still known better especially when it came to such a sensitive subject and she rolled her eyes. 

“Sanji came out to you,” said Nami slowly and Zoro nodded. She was speaking slowly and calmly, but he could tell that she was pissed off. Her voice was much lower than usual and it was cold.  _ She was trying her best to stay as calm as she possibly could.  _ “And you told him  _ what? _ ” she hissed, Zoro flinching and he gulped down when he looked into her eyes. Her eyes were dark, she was staring into his soul and even if he was the all mighty swordsman, strong and fearless, he felt small. He felt small when he would look into Nami’s eyes and he was growing smaller and smaller, gulping down again and he opened his mouth to say something. 

“I fucked up, okay?”

“Yes, yes you did,” said Nami and sighed under her breath, leaning back against the chair and she shook her head. “I mean I know you can be insensitive even if you don’t wanna be, but seriously?! What were you thinking?” asked Nami and Zoro glanced down and shrugged it off.

“I-I wasn’t,” said Zoro and then clasped his hands in his lap. Nami could see that Zoro’s hands were shaking a little bit. He was nervous after all and she cocked her head to the side. “I wasn’t even sure that the cook was into guys so when he told me, he-he caught me off guard,” he said and shrugged. “I didn’t think too much of it, alright?!” snapped Zoro and Nami slowly calmed down a little bit because she could tell that Zoro felt horrible about it. “The cook doesn’t seem like the type for serious commitment, so I thought that he wouldn’t mind… that it wouldn’t matter,” said Zoro and ran his fingers through his hair out of frustration and bowed his head down.

“I get that,” said Nami. “I know that you didn’t want to hurt his feelings on purpose,” she said eventually. Zoro was many things, but he wasn’t cruel. He was a dick at times, but he wasn’t a bad person and she huffed under her breath. It was just that the whole thing was a mess. They needed to sit down and talk about it, but she could see it from the other’s perspective how he wouldn’t want to see Zoro again. He bared his heart to him and got burnt. It was complicated. 

“I thought we were on the same page,” said Zoro. “I got it all wrong,” mumbled Zoro. “Now I’ve hurt his feelings and I doubt that he will ever want to see me again,” said Zoro and groaned under his breath. “I ruined everything, didn’t I?” he asked and looked over at the red-head, who shook her head. Even if the situation seemed a mess and helpless at the moment, she was pretty sure that they would be able to work it out. 

“Zoro, if he has feelings for you, I’m sure he will give you another chance,” said Nami softly and Zoro glanced down, his cheeks red and his heart leaped into his throat. Nami smiled when he saw that and she crossed her arms on top of her chest. “You like him, don’t you?” she asked because it was so easy to tell. Maybe Zoro didn’t realise his true feelings yet for the cook, but to Nami it was more than clear.

“What?” asked Zoro and looked up at her. “No?” he asked and then chewed on his lip, holding in his breath.  _ Honestly, he didn’t know anymore what he felt for the cook.  _ It wasn’t  _ nothing _ but he needed to- “I mean I’m not sure, hell even I don’t know it,” he said and groaned. “This is so stupid,” he said angrily and Nami grinned. Yep, that sounded like he had feelings for the blonde as well. 

“You’ll figure it out,” said Nami softly.

“What should I do?” asked Zoro with a small voice then and Nami smiled.

“Apologise to him,” said Nami and winked. Zoro doubted that it was going to be so easy as she made it sound. Nami could see Zoro’s expression of uncertainty and she gave him a little smile of encouragement. “I know that it maybe seems like it’s impossible now, Zoro, but I can guarantee you that he will listen to you,” said Nami and Zoro glanced away. “Just give it a little bit of time and apologise properly.  _ Think _ before you speak,” she then added, her voice stern again and Zoro groaned.

“Man, I hope you’re right,” said Zoro and buried his face into his palms.

**

Zoro was ready, he had the entire speech ready - the perfect apology to Sanji. He listened to Nami and took a few extra days, giving Sanji his space and time to calm down. Zoro also needed some time to think about a few things and now he was ready. It was okay if Sanji wasn’t going to forgive him, he had that right. He needed to tell Sanji, though, that he didn’t mean to be such a dick back there. It wasn’t his intention to hurt his feelings and Sanji needed to explain that to him properly now. Of course Sanji wasn’t back at the club for a while now. It’s been a couple of weeks since Zoro made a complete ass out of himself in front of Sanji, but now he was ready. Two weeks was a long time, wasn’t it? It felt forever to Zoro.

Those two weeks were dragging out forever, Zoro didn’t want to admit it to himself yet. But, yes, deep down he missed Sanji a lot, chewing on his lip as he was standing in front of Sanji’s place and he tried to ignore how awkward it was probably going to be. He kind of showed up at his place and he took a deep breath and was studying the situation again. Well, he didn’t even know if Sanji was home, but going at Baratie again was kind of out of the question. Last time that he was there he made a whole scene before they finally told him where Sanji lived. He was probably banned from the restaurant until the end of time. Rolling his eyes, Zoro sighed and then rubbed his palms together.

“Okay, apologise, explain,” said Zoro, repeating what Nami told him to do. “And think. Don’t fuck it up,” he said, groaning and he pressed his lips together. What got him the most was the fact that Sanji came out to him and that he reacted like that - wanting to get into his pants immediately. He knew that even if he never really had much issues with his sexuality, he knew that it wasn’t like that for all people and from what he gathered so much, Sanji struggled for a while now. 

Zoro finally decided that he did enough of thinking, finally plucking up the courage and he walked over to the door, raised up his hand and rang the doorbell. He didn’t want to beat around the bush for too long, so he was just going to come out and say it. And if Sanji wasn’t going to be home? Well, he was in for a long wait. Zoro had nowhere else to be that day anyway, so he was going to wait there for him until they would have a proper talk. Zoro was patient if he put his mind to it. Zoro’s eyes widened when he heard footsteps coming closer to the door and his heart started racing. 

_ Oh, shit cook was home after all! _

Zoro got ready to be face to face with Sanji, but when the door opened someone else welcomed him. Instead of Sanji, a strange old man was standing in front of him and Zoro’s jaw dropped.  _ He completely forgot that Sanji told him about the old man that he was living with!  _ He was strange looking, his mustache long and he blinked a few times. The other arched his brow, of course not getting who he was and he narrowed his eyes. “Yes?” barked the other and Zoro flinched. “Who are you?”

So that was the old man, huh? He looked grumpy, there was a frown in between his eyebrows and he finally snapped back to reality, reminding himself that he was there to see Sanji. “Is cook there?” asked Zoro and Zeff narrowed his eyes. Zoro clicked with his tongue and then sighed. “Can I see Sanji?” asked Zoro again and Zeff leaned against the door frame, looking a bit surprised.

“Ah, he’s not home,” said Zeff and Zoro groaned. “A friend of his?” he asked, surprised because it wasn’t like Sanji’s friends to visit their place and after thinking for a while abou it, Zoro nodded and he huffed under his breath. Friends… yeah, let’s go with that. “Ah, that’s interesting,” commented Zeff and Zoro narrowed his eyes.

“What is?” asked Zoro defensively.  _ Wait, did that old man know something?  _ Did Sanji tell him?! Zoro was getting suspicious and he cleared his throat, biting his lip. “Anyway, if he isn’t home, I’ll just come by another time,” mumbled Zoro because he didn’t like the way that the old man was staring at him and Zeff just laughed in the end and shrugged.

“Do as you wish, kiddo,” said Zeff and opened the door wider. “But you can wait here, Sanji’s soon going to be home,” he said and shrugged. Zeff knew that there was something off with the boy so he made sure that he didn’t work too much. He was again pushing himself even more than usual, so he made sure that he worked  _ less.  _ He didn’t know what was up with Sanji, but there was something that told him that it could be connected with the green haired guy over there.

“Really?”

“Yep,” said Zeff and looked inside of the apartment. 

Zoro thought about it for a little while. How was he supposed to say no? Zeff was slowly closing up the door and his jaw dropped. Wait, didn’t he tell him that he was free to hang around until Sanji would show up? Before Zeff managed to close the door, Zoro quickly reached forward with his hand and grabbed onto the doorknob, pulling the door open and Zeff grinned - as he thought!

“Hold on, old man,” said Zoro and Zeff grinned.

“Don’t forget to close the door on your way in,” said Zeff simply and walked away from the door. Zoro sighed under his breath and then slowly followed Zeff inside of the apartment, closing the door as he was being told and he rubbed his palms together. He only hoped that  _ after _ Sanji would show up that he would manage to tell him all that he was rehearsing so far and not mess everything up again!

* * *

“Stupid old man, making me come home in the middle of the day,” whined Sanji when he was slowly walking back home, rolling his eyes and he groaned. He would have much prefered if he was allowed to work more, but Zeff was keeping a careful eye on him. And while he was going to be bored out of his mind back at home, Zeff would be having fun at Baratie. Ugh, it was so annoying. But he was overdoing it again, spending all his time in the kitchen to the point that it wasn’t healthy. Probably. Sanji didn’t care anymore, after what happened with Zoro, he didn’t care what happened anymore. Everything was so messed up.

But Sanji blamed himself. While it was true that Zoro was the one that said all of those horrible things, it was his own fault for making himself believe that it was actually possible for him to be in a relationship. Biting down onto his lip, Sanji pushed those annoying thoughts away and he sighed. Well, being home gave him the chance to experiment with a few recipes that he was thinking about recently. It was always fun to play around in the kitchen and he was free to do so without the old man being around.

That was the only source of his good mood lately. Groaning again, Sanji slowly walked around the corner and slowly opened the door. There was one cake in particular that he was keen on trying and he rubbed his palms together. He had a few ideas, his smile growing a little bit when he looked around the place and then huffed. “I’m home, old man,” announced Sanji. “You can get going to Baratie, I’ll be busy around here anyway, so you better get going,” said Sanji and kind of frowned when he didn’t get anything back as a response. “Old man?”

“In here,” finally came a response from the kitchen and Sanji snickered.

“Anyway,” said Sanji and snickered. “I’m home like you wanted, happy?” whined Sanji and then opened the door of the kitchen.

“Sanji, someone’s here to see you,” said Zeff and Sanji narrowed his eyes.

“Gin?” asked Sanji because his friend occasionally showed up, smiling a little bit but when he properly stepped inside of the kitchen and saw Zoro sitting over by the table, all of the colour drained from his face and he quickly made a step back. Why was that idiot there? Sanji’s eyes widened, gulping and he looked over to Zeff in surprise. He then looked back over to Zoro, who was now looking down and didn’t dare to look at Sanji. At least not yet. He wanted for them to be alone to discuss things in private.

Zoro slowly lifted his gaze and saw the look on Sanji’s face. He looked shocked, hurt and sadness written all over his face and he swallowed thickly. “Cook, I-”

“Why are you here, what are you doing here?” whispered Sanji, his voice cold and he wouldn’t look at Zoro again. He couldn't, it hurt too much. “I told you to stay away, didn’t I?” asked Sanji, his annoyance growing and he couldn’t stop his heart from starting to shatter all over again. Was he so desperate to hurt him more? Was that his plan? To humiliate him even further?!

“I know, but I want to apolo-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” snapped Sanji. “I don’t wanna hear your excuses. Get the hell out of here and never show your face here again,” said Sanji, his speech fast, he was stumbling over his words. 

“I know I messed up, but please here me out,” said Zoro, who was now on his legs and walking closer to Sanji. “I-I didn’t mean it like that. When you told me that you li-” started Zoro, who was unaware that Zeff was standing right there and Sanji’s eyes widened when he heard what Zoro was about to say. Quickly, he grabbed Zoro’s wrist and yanked on his arm, dragging him out of the kitchen and Zeff was at first surprised but then he hummed.  _ There was something going on between those two.  _

* * *

“Hold on, cook, wait up,” said Zoro, but Sanji didn’t let him speak until they were far enough for the apartment, dragging Zoro into an empty alley and he rammed him against the wall and he crossed his arms on top of his chest and shook his head. Both of them were breathing hard and uneven - Sanji started running at one point and wouldn’t stop until he was sure that they were far away and he glared at Zoro, biting into his lip. The feelings were still present and it killed him knowing that Zoro didn’t have those same feelings for him, clearing his throat and he took a deep breath.

“What the hell were you doing at my place?” asked Sanji. “Did you tell something to the old man?”

“No,” said Zoro. “I just told him I was your friend and I needed to speak to you.”

“Friend,” scoffed Sanji.

“Listen I’m not here to fight,” said Zoro and Sanji rolled his eyes. He found that very hard to believe. Though maybe he was there to humiliate him furthermore. Zoro didn’t look  _ too _ remorseful in his eyes and he shook his head. It was over, the end.  _ Finito.  _ He wasn’t opening his heart again. Nope. He was going to shut Zoro down immediately. No matter what he said. “I’m here to apologise,” said Zoro and Sanji looked over to him and then rolled his eyes.

“Of course you are,” said Sanji.

“I mean it,” said Zoro softer that time. He made a little pause when he saw that Sanji was giving him the time to explain, so he took a deep breath in and got himself ready to explain it all to Sanji. “W-when you told me all of that,” said Zoro and Sanji flinched. Ugh, what was that about shutting all feelings down right away?! “I was insensitive, I know it must had been hard on you,” said Zoro and made another pause. He had it all rehearsed and yet he was still stuttering so much. Dragging his tongue over his lip, Zoro rubbed his palms together and then nodded again. “I didn’t think when I-”

“No you didn’t,” whispered Sanji. “And apparently you didn’t hear either when I told you I never wanted to see you again,” said Sanji and Zoro let out a little defeated groan. Nami was wrong, it wasn’t going to be so simple. “Why apologise? It’s not like you care, do you?” asked Sanji and shrugged. “I mean all you wanted was to bang me and then what?” asked Sanji and Zoro glanced down.

“It’s not like that.”

“It is,” said Sanji and then laughed sadly. “But I suppose I should thank you,” said Sanji and formed loose fists with his hands and shook his head. “I never thought I’d get to enjoy my first kiss with a man,” said Zoro’s eyes widened.  _ Wait, what?  _ “So, thank you… I guess?” asked Sanji and his heart dropped again. “Look, forget it, it’s over,” said Sanji. “I was stupid to allow myself to actually think you’d be interested in me like  _ that _ ,” said Sanji and made a step back. 

Zoro was panicking. No, it wasn’t like that! His anxiety was growing and he needed to make Sanji realise that he…  _ fuck, that he liked him as well!  _ “You got it all wrong. I-I… for you, I mean I also-”

“I don’t wanna hear it,” said Sanji and covered his ears. “Stop pretending, it’s fine,” said Sanji and gave him a sad smile. “You don’t have to force yourself to lie, it’s fine. I get it,” said Sanji, his lower lip shaking, quickly turning around. “Let’s end this, okay?” whispered Sanji and started walking away from Zoro. “Don’t follow me, please,” added on Sanji and then started walking away, Zoro stopping when he was about to follow the other and he looked down, gritting his teeth.

Why… why did it hurt so much?

* * *

Both Usopp and Luffy were waiting for Zoro to come back home - they knew that he was going over to Sanji and finally confess it all, but when he came back home, their excitement died. Usopp was the first one that dared to approach Zoro, who was in silence taking off his shoes by the entrance. “How did it go?” he asked, but was shocked to see Zoro on the verge of tears - he never cried. He had never seen him cry. Zoro slowly moved away in silence, pressing his palm against his face and a little sniffle was heard.

“It’s too late, I fucked it up,” said Zoro as he fought back the tears and Usopp’s eyes widened. Really? He thought it would… work out. It always did! 

“No, you can’t give up now, Zoro,” said Usopp as he tried to cheer his friend up. “He will change his mind, you will see,” said Usopp. “You see, you just have to get him flowers and… yes! That always works. When I do something that angers Kaya, flowers always work and-” he started again, but then Zoro’s sad chuckle stopped him.

“Thanks, but I don’t think it’ll help, not with this,” said Zoro and glanced towards Luffy. Unlike Usopp, Luffy got that he needed some space only for himself. 

“Zoro,” stammered Usopp.

“It’s fine… I’ll be okay, I just need to be alone,” said Zoro, going towards his room, Usopp going after him, but Luffy’s hand upon his shoulder stopped him. Usopp was about to argue, but the look in Luffy’s eyes told him that there was nothing to argue about.  _ Zoro needed his time alone.  _ As much as he hated it, he saw that it was right, biting his lip as he was looking towards Zoro’s room, hoping that his friend was going to be okay.

It wasn’t until a few days later that Luffy wandered off to Baratie. He didn’t go inside, he was standing by the gate that led to the entrance of the restaurant and waited. He was lucky - he didn’t have to wait too long to catch Sanji on his smoke break. Sanji was surprised to see Luffy there - did Zoro send him?! He didn’t want to be rude to Luffy as he had done nothing to him, but if Zoro sent him he was going to- Sanji took a deep breath and slowly walked towards Luffy, who had a bright smile on his face.

“Sanji!” he said loudly and waved. Sanji smiled back, but felt uneasy.

“That’s a surprise,” said Sanji and held in his breath. He didn’t wait too long to ask why he was there. “Did Marimo send you?” asked Sanji, on edge, and Luffy shook his head, the smile on his face still there.

“Nope,” said Luffy and then happily hummed. “I’m here because I wanted to see you,” said Luffy and then pulled out something out of his pocket. It was a piece of paper and he gave it Sanji. There were some numbers scribbled down and Sanji swallowed. That was- “Zoro’s number,” said Luffy. Sanji opened his mouth to say something - Zoro  _ did  _ send him. “Zoro really didn’t send me, I mean it,” said Luffy and Sanji’s mouth shut close. “Give him another chance though?” asked Luffy and Sanji’s eyes widened.  _ He knew all that happened?  _

“Zoro told you?”

“He did the other day, he feels horrible about what happened. He’s miserable,” confessed Luffy. “But he didn’t have to tell me for me to realise how deep he’s fallen for you already,” said Luffy. He was still smiling, but he had a much serious expression on and Sanji was caught off guard by that. Zoro? He- “Zoro needs a while before he realises how he feels sometimes,” said Luffy and Sanji blinked a few times. “He’s a good guy, Sanji. He just needs a little push sometimes,” said Luffy and placed his hand upon Sanji’s shoulder.

Sanji clutched the paper that was in his palm and his heart was pounding.  _ Zoro actually liked him? Their feelings were mutual?  _ “I can’t just-”

“Do what feels right,” said Luffy cheerfully and winked. “Now then,” said Luffy and his goofy smile was back, going back to his usual carefree self. “What’s for lunch? I’m starving,” he said and finally headed for the restaurant. Sanji was left alone outside, glancing down at the piece of paper that Luffy just gave to him, clutching on it and he felt… how did he feel? Luffy kind of bombarded him with all that information and he was… 

_ Zoro had feelings for him?  _

Sanji could have easily tossed Zoro’s number away, but he didn’t. He tucked it into his pocket and decided to hold onto it.


	12. Chapter 12

Zoro was again spacing out, not really paying attention to what was going around him. He was home, hanging out with his friends. Nami, Robin and Chopper came over because Luffy invited all of them so that they could hang out a little bit. Zoro has been feeling down for a while now, it got worse from the point on when Sanji turned him down and wouldn’t accept his apology. So, Zoro was moping around everywhere - when he was home, when he was at work or when he was at university. He was feeling sorry for himself and that was really unlike him. That was why Luffy decided that it was time to intervene a little bit, so he invited their circle of friends over to their place, hoping that Zoro would cheer up a little bit, but for now it wasn’t really working. 

Usopp glanced over at Luffy, who also wore a little worried expression and he huffed under his breath. It’s been a few days since he visited Sanji’s restaurant and gave him Zoro’s number, but he still didn’t contact Zoro, which was understandable. He needed a little bit of time and that didn’t even mean that Sanji would be ready to give Zoro another chance. The matter of a fact was that it was now all on Sanji if he was ready to forgive Zoro for his stupidity and give him another chance. Luffy sure hoped that it was going to happen because he - and the other around Zoro - knew that his heart was in a good place. He just lacked his awareness at times. Also, they couldn’t really make Sanji forgive Zoro. It was his decision to make.

“Zoro,” called out Usopp again and Zoro finally snapped back to reality. Zoro glanced over to the other and arched his brow. He wasn’t really listening to what was going on around him, he was too preoccupied with thinking about things, blaming himself still for fucking the entire thing up. He and Sanji could actually… now that he knew how Sanji felt about him and when he finally realised his own feelings for the cook, he realised just what good of a thing he could’ve had. If he didn’t mess it up, of course. He usually messed things up, biting his lip and he forced himself to pay attention to Usopp.

“Yeah?” he finally asked.

“Oh, we just wanted to hear your opinion on what kind of movie you wanted to watch,” said Luffy and he looked over to the screen of the TV and he shrugged. He wasn’t in the mood for the movie, not really, so anything was fine with him. He wasn’t going to pay attention to it, anyway. 

“I don’t really care,” said Zoro and shrugged. Nami glanced over at Luffy, who tensed up and Robin sighed over at the side. She felt bad for her friend, but there wasn’t anything that they could do to make him feel better. Luffy, Usopp, Nami and Chopper were desperate to cheer Zoro up, but Robin let her friend be because she knew that it was what Zoro needed and wanted. His space to clear his thoughts about the whole matter. Still, she hoped that things would soon turn out for the better. 

Chopper pouted over at the side and glanced up at Zoro, giving him a serious look and the Zoro arched his brow when he saw that Chopper was carefully studying his face. He was a med student, so he was probably again trying to see if he was okay? “Zoro, hold still,” said the youngest among them all and placed his palm against Zoro’s forehead and Zoro tried to move back, but the stern look in Chopper’s eyes made him stay in place. Still, he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“I’m fine,” said Zoro. Chopper knew what happened, why was he- Zoro knew that he was worried about him, so he decided to keep his mouth shut and the frown between Chopper’s eyebrows was growing, looking over to Robin and he rubbed the back of his neck and he shook his head. Well, it didn’t seem like Zoro had a fever. He knew all about Sanji, but was still coming from the medical field and he wanted to help his friend out the best way that he knew how to.

“It doesn’t appear you have a fever,” commented Chopper and Zoro rolled his eyes.

“Duh,” said Zoro and Robin chuckled over at the side and looked at Chopper.

“I think Zoro is in need of a little bit of a different doctor,” said Robin softly and Chopper bowed his head down, feeling disappointed that he couldn’t help Zoro out and the green haired man smiled, almost. And what kind of a doctor would that be?  _ The love doctor?  _ Zoro snorted and he sighed. Well at least according to Usopp over at the side he needed a love doctor, which he didn’t even know existed and his smile grew even more. Then maybe Usopp used that kind of title for himself. He was known to make up different kind of professions and titles for himself and he huffed under his breath.

“I’ll be fine, Chopper,” said Zoro and placed his hand on top of Chopper’s head and the other glanced up at him. Chopper was kind of a younger brother to him and eventually the other’s smile returned to his face. “No need to worry, I’ll work things out with the cook and I’ll be soon back in no time,” he carried on. That cheered Chopper a little bit, but Zoro could still see that the younger was still worried.

“Okay,” said Chopper, sighing under his breath. 

“So, the movie?” chimed Nami in and Zoro quickly nodded. Suddenly he was in a mood for the movie and he picked out the one that Chopper begged not to watch - it was a horror movie, but it was something that Zoro was in the mood for, so he decided to grit his teeth through it and bear it. Though Usopp and Chopper were having their eyes closed throughout the half of the movie; it was kind of hilarious to see them watch horror movies. Both of them were scaredy cats.

It was somewhere in the middle of the movie that Zoro’s phone buzzed. Not thinking much of it, Zoro decided to check up on it. It was a text message from an unknown number. Zoro wasn’t known to answer to unknown numbers, but curiosity got the best of him, so he opened up the text and the phone almost ended up slipping from his hands when he read the text. He needed a few moments to realise that he read it right, because the text was short, but it-

_ I still owe you a meal. Come to Baratie when you’re in the mood. _

_ -Sanji. _

Zoro’s eyes were wide open and his heart started hammering against his ribcage, swallowing thickly because he had no idea what was the meaning of this. Not to mention - how did Sanji get his hands on his phone number? Zoro had so many questions, nervously looking at the text because he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to reply to the text, but he didn’t want to piss Sanji off too much. Also what was he supposed to write back? Sanji made it clear to him to come over to Baratie whenever he felt like it. It was true that he technically still owed him a meal and-

Zoro swallowed and his heart sank deeper because at first he thought that maybe Sanji wanted to have a talk with him. But then another, grimmer idea started seeping in - what if this was Sanji truly making sure that whatever there was between the two of them was over? Maybe Sanji didn’t want to stay in debt to him, so this was his final meal at Baratie and after that was over for good. It would be the end, there would be no more reason for the two of them to see each other. Zoro gulped and suddenly the horror that was playing in the movie wasn’t scary after all. 

_ He had other horror to deal with in real life and that was the possibility of it being the last time that he’d last see Sanji.  _ Zoro's heart twisted and ached, quickly locking the screen of his phone and he placed it down because he didn’t want to reply to Sanji. If that was the only reason why he wanted to see him…  _ it fucking hurt too much.  _ Zoro chewed on his lip, but at the same time he knew that he was going to head over to Baratie the next day. It was the least he could do - he owed it to Sanji.

So, it was going to be their final goodbye. After that it was all coming to an end and Zoro had to force himself to take a breath in.

* * *

It was the next day and despite everything that was in him wanting to run away, Zoro forced himself to walk over to Baratie and get it all over with. It was a long way there, he didn’t take a taxi that day, he decided that the subway and walking was a way to go. It took longer to get there and honestly Zoro prefered it that way. When he was closer to the restaurant, his steps grew heavier. It was hard to continue his way over to Sanji’s because he knew that it was all coming to an end. At least that was what he made himself believe - why else would Sanji want to see him again? He made it clear to him that he wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with him from that point on.

_ How did he get his hands on his number though? _

Well, it didn’t matter really. Maybe someone employed at the club gave it to him, Sanji had his way with words and people. Zoro read through the text a few times, trying to decode its meaning and every single time he came to the same conclusion - it was the end of everything. He didn’t tell anyone about the text, though. His friends were worried enough about him and pity was the last thing that he wanted at the moment. So, there he was dragging himself over to Baratie and his stomach twisted when he soon found himself standing next to it. 

Zoro was soon sitting at the table - luckily there were quite a few empty tables that day. Sitting by the table, holding the menu in his hands, but Zoro didn’t feel hungry at all. He couldn’t eat even a single bite despite knowing how good Sanji’s cooking was. He was too nervous, he couldn’t even muster himself to look up. Probably Sanji wasn’t going to come over to his table though, right? Probably not. Zoro would eat and leave and then that was going to be it.

Zoro was pretty sure that that was how it was going to be, so he almost fell back on the chair when he looked up. He heard someone standing by his table. Thinking that it was a waiter that came to take his order, Zoro didn’t think too much about it, so he looked up. Much to his shock, he saw the blonde standing there and his jaw dropped.  _ Hold on a second, why was Sanji taking his order?  _ He was a cook, anyway, so- Zoro cleared his throat and there was silence that fell between them. Sanji didn’t speak up for a long time.

Zoro was clutching on the menu that was still in his hands. He didn’t really have anything particular in mind what he’d be having to order, all that was on his mind was Sanji and it’s been a long time since he felt so nervous about anything. Zoro was known for always knowing what he wanted, never wavering and yet when it came to Sanji, he was nervous as hell, feeling his heart fasten when Sanji slowly moved and glanced down at him. Zoro wasn’t the only one who was nervous there and Zoro’s eyes widened when he saw that Sanji’s hands were shaking a little bit.

Sanji looked kind of collected on the outside, but inside he was shivering. He didn’t really know what he was doing, but since Luffy stopped by, he thought about things. He thought about a lot of things and he thought what Luffy said to him - that Zoro had feelings for him. Zoro was about to tell him something serious, but he wouldn’t let him the other day when Zoro was over at his place, chewing on his lower lip as his eyes were travelling up and down Zoro. Zoro was paler than usual, trying his best to look collected, but Sanji could see that Zoro was nervous as hell.

Usually it was hard for Sanji to read what was on Zoro’s mind, but not that time. Marimo’s leg was nervously tapping against the floor and Sanji gasped under his breath.  _ Sanji was happy that Marimo showed up.  _ He didn’t get any replies from the other after he sent his text, so he got kind of nervous that maybe Zoro gave up on him for good, but the moss head showed up and Sanji stepped out of the kitchen immediately after the old man told him that he saw Zoro.  _ He showed up right the next day since he sent him that text.  _ That had to mean that he was serious about him, right?

It made Sanji happy. He was… prepared to give Zoro another chance; but he would have to hear it from him first - how he felt. Sure, Luffy told him that Zoro had feelings for him. He had a hunch that Zoro was about to confess it the other day as well, yet Sanji was going to need more than that. If he would allow himself to trust the swordsman again he would have to hear those words coming from him first. Not the other way around. It might not be fair, but it was the only way that Sanji was going to open up to Zoro ever again. Sanji was sick and tired of always making the first step and getting burnt in the process. If Zoro was serious about  _ this _ then he would have to show it to him. 

“What will you be having?” finally spoke up Sanji and Zoro flinched. 

“I-I,” stammered Zoro and held in his breath. Honestly, he didn’t care, he wasn’t hungry and yet- “What do you, um, recommend?” asked Zoro, his heart hammering against his ribcage. Sanji looked at him. It was a stern gaze. “You know what? Surprise me,” said Zoro softly in the end and forced a little smile. “Whatever you think I’d like, bring it to me,” he said, trying to play it off cool, but it came out as a whisper and Sanji nodded. 

“Very well, I can work with that,” said Sanji with a smile. He decided to surprise Zoro with his special that day, feeling a little bit excited and just as he was about to walk away, he felt Zoro’s hand upon his own. His blue eyes searched Zoro’s dark ones and he shuddered softly, trying to withdraw his hand, but Zoro wouldn’t let him move. Not yet, not until he was sure that Sanji was prepared to talk to him.  _ Even if Zoro prepared himself for this to be the end of it all, he didn’t want it to be.  _ Desperate, Zoro felt desperate. 

“Cook, I-”

“Later,” whispered Sanji and finally pulled back his hand, Zoro glancing up at him and he swallowed thickly. “When you’re done, I’ll end my shift. Let-let’s talk more then,” whispered Sanji and Zoro slowly pulled his hand back. Before he was able to ask Sanji anything more, he was already walking back towards the kitchen. 

* * *

Sanji was having his second cigarette as he was waiting for Zoro to be finished with his meal. He stepped out first as he was far too nervous to keep on waiting for the other in the kitchen. The old man was still making him work only half time, so as he was done for the day, Sanji was meaning to take Zoro over to his place again where the two of them could talk through things in private and slowly. Sanji was hoping that everything was going to work out, blowing out the smoke and he clicked with his tongue. He was getting impatient again, licking across his lower lip, slowly lowering his cigarette and he leaned up against the wall and glanced towards the restaurant.

“I really hope that Marimo came around,” whispered Sanji under his breath and chewed on his lip. It was still difficult for Sanji to admit it to himself that he was indeed into guys  _ and not women.  _ But it was the truth - he knew that he shouldn’t keep denying it. He knew that there was nothing wrong with liking guys. And finally he was starting to get  _ okay _ with admitting it to himself as well, his smile slowly growing a little bit and he took in another puff, blowing out the smoke again and smiled as he was looking up at the sky.

It was a sunny day, not a cloud on the blue sky - it was a good sign. Maybe it was stupid to find that as a sign of good luck, but Sanji needed something,  _ anything _ to keep him from running away and wait there for Zoro. He was scared shitless, huffing under his breath. Sanji was about to turn around over to the entrance to check up if Marimo was  _ finally _ on his way. And indeed - there was Zoro, slowly walking through the front door, Sanji’s heart leaping up to his throat and he quickly tossed away his cigarette, stepped on top of it and then rubbed his palms together. 

Finally, Marimo was finally there and all of the sudden Sanji felt quite shy. He was about to call out to the other and walk up to him, but then he heard someone calling out to him. Well, not really out to him, but someone said his name and he quickly turned around over to the gate that led over to the restaurant. 

_ Who was it now? He really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone else but Zoro!  _

“If it isn’t my former classmate-freak,” said the voice and Sanji’s eyes widened when he saw exactly who it was. It was his former classmate and Sanji blinked a few times when he was brought back to high school and without even knowing it himself, he made a step back, his face pale and he quickly looked down. It was his old friend, his former classmate, the first guy that he came out to - the first guy that he confessed his feelings to. The one that made the rest of the highschool hell for him and his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach because that was the worst timing ever for him to show up over at their restaurant.  _ What the hell was he even doing there? _

Sanji tried to ignore him, going over to Zoro, but of course the other idiot followed him. Zoro cheered up when he saw that Sanji was already waiting for him outside, but he soon realised that something was  _ off.  _ By the look of it, he could tell that Sanji knew the other person there. He seemed around the same age as Sanji and he had a female companion with him. Zoro really didn’t care, but he kept a careful eye on him. Sanji didn’t want to talk to him, but he kept following him and Zoro’s eyes darkened. 

Zoro didn’t like the way that he was looking at Sanji and it was a different feeling than the last time that he saw another guy being too touchy-feely with Sanji. This time it was different, he wasn’t jealous. He was alarmed because the idiot was looking at Sanji in a very creepy way, but he still didn’t want this to ruin things, so he decided to ignore him. Sanji was ignoring him, so Zoro decided to do the same.

“Oi, cook,” said Zoro and Sanji hummed along.

“Finally, stupid Marimo, you’ve kept me waiting,” said Sanji and even though the other was teasing, Zoro could tell that he was calling out to him in a very fond way.  _ Ah, this was a good good sign! _

“It’s your fault, you put too much food on my plate,” said Zoro and Sanji snickered.

“Always with the excuses,” teased Sanji back.

“Is this the one you’ve been telling me about?” heard Sanji whisper the woman that was with his former classmate and he flinched again and chewed on his lip. Why wouldn’t they leave him alone?! “Vinsmoke Sanji?” she said and the other nodded.

“Yeah, that’s the freak alright,” said the other and Sanji’s face darkened. Zoro was standing far away from Sanji before so he couldn’t hear what came out of the other’s mouth, but now that he heard, his blood was boiling with anger and he was fuming. He glanced at Sanji, who didn’t really say anything. He was trying his best to ignore him and Zoro clenched his jaw.  _ Why wouldn’t he stand up for himself?!  _ “He confessed to me back in highschool,” he said and made a face.

Zoro looked again at Sanji, who flinched. “Who’s this idiot?” asked Zoro because he had it enough. He wasn’t going to let him speak about Sanji like that and he glared at him and when the guy looked into his eyes and saw nothing but anger and darkness in there. It should be enough to keep him from running his mouth, but he wasn’t too stupid to get that he was playing with fire with Zoro being present there.

“Nobody that’s worth our time and energy,” said Sanji and chewed on his lip. 

That pissed the other off and he started walking towards Sanji. “I came here to eat, why are you here?” he snapped. “Ruining my appetite,” he carried on and Sanji glared at him. 

“I work here,” was all that Sanji said.

“Ew,” he said and glanced at his girlfriend. “Babe, it’s for the best that we change our plans. I’m not gonna eat anything made by that freak,” he said and Sanji glared at him.

“Good, go away. Baratie is too good to serve someone like you,” spat out Sanji. 

“You bastard,” said the other and Zoro could see that Sanji humiliated him in front of his date. “I see that you haven’t changed, you’re still the same-” he started, but it was apparent that Sanji wasn’t listening to him anymore. He tried to sign to Zoro that it really wasn’t worth it, but Zoro was pissed off. He was still angry at the idiot for speaking to Sanji like that - it hurt Sanji’s feelings even if he told him that it was  _ not worth it.  _ He couldn’t forgive anyone who hurt Sanji’s feelings; like he couldn’t find it within to forgive himself for ruining things like that. 

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up?” asked Zoro and Sanji glanced towards him. One glare at the other was able to make the man afraid, but he was still stupid enough to stop running his mouth.

“What is it to you? Stay out of this,” spat out the other and Zoro firmed fists with his hands.

“You’re the one that’s disgusting, you homophobic piece of shit,” said Zoro and started cracking his knuckles. He was going to drag the idiot over to the side alley so that they wouldn’t gather too much unwanted attention and he was going to beat some sense into him. As he made a step closer to the other, Sanji’s former classmate was scared shitless and Sanji laughed.  _ He was always such a coward.  _ He was still a spineless man, honestly, Sanji couldn’t even see what he saw in him in the first place. 

Before Zoro managed to do anything stupid, he stepped closer to him, grabbed his wrist and Zoro immediately stopped, turning around to him and he swallowed. “Zoro, it’s really not worth it,” said Sanji and shook his head. Though Zoro’s protective side was quite endearing and it warmed his heart up. All he wanted to do at the moment was talk and not get into unneeded fights. Zoro, on the other side, got a little bit of an insight why Sanji has been struggling so hard with it all and it turned his stomach to think it was all that idiot’s fault. 

“Cook, what he said to you is not-”

“Not what I want to talk about right now,” said Sanji and Zoro’s breath shook. “Let’s go to my place and talk, huh?” asked Sanji, his voice calm and warm. In the end Zoro decided to listen.  _ Sanji wanted to talk! _

Still holding Zoro’s wrist, Sanji slowly dragged Zoro away because the other was still ready to jump idiot and tear his throat out. Zoro managed to calm down a few moments later and as they walked in silence he just needed to ask- “I should’ve kicked his ass,” grumbled Zoro.

“Told you, not worth getting your hands dirty over,” said Sanji and shrugged. “Turns my stomach to think he’s the first guy I’ve been into,” he said. “How stupid was of me to confess, ugh. Should have kept it back, he made high school hell for me, hammered it deep into my core how disgusting I was for falling in love with him, you know ‘cause he’s a guy and all of that. But well,” said Sanji and shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

“Falling for someone isn’t disgusting, Sanji,” said Zoro softly and Sanji stopped walking. Hearing Zoro say his name like that made his heart skip and he swallowed thickly.

“I-I know,” muttered Sanji. 

“It’s because of him that you’ve been-”

“Let’s not talk about him now?” asked Sanji and looked around, finally. “Please? Why does it matter, anyway, I mean-”

“He hurt you,” whispered Zoro and gritted his teeth. “I can’t forgive him for...” he said, his voice trailing off. “ _ I  _ hurt you as well,” said Zoro and Sanji glanced away. “That’s why I can’t forgive him neither can I forgive myself and-”

“Marimo, it’s fine,” said Sanji, but Zoro was visibly shaking. Zoro shook his head.

“What more do I have to do?” whispered Zoro. “For you to give me another chance?”

Sanji had the whole speech kind of ready - to make Zoro apologise to him properly again. Make him tell how he felt about him again, but when he saw just how much Zoro felt bad about it, he decided that it was enough. He didn’t want to put Zoro through more, he could see the guilt that he was wearing on his shoulders. So even if he had plans to talk it over back at his place, he spoke up. “Kiss me,” whispered Sanji. Zoro glanced up at him. “Kiss me and I’ll-”

Sanji never got to finish that sentence. Zoro’s body moved on it’s own, gently cupping Sanji’s face and he gently pressed his lips up against Sanji’s. 


	13. Chapter 13

Sanji gasped when he felt Zoro’s lips upon his own and he didn’t hesitate that time to hold back, melting right up against Zoro, his heart hammering against his ribcage, clutching onto Zoro’s shirt as he was trying his best to keep up with the other’s fast and hungry kisses. God, the way that Zoro kissed him wrecked him. Zoro’s kisses were all destruction and power, Sanji loved the way that his knees were getting weaker, wrapping his arms around the other’s neck and he pulled him closer, Zoro letting out a muffled groan and he pulled back for a split second, but Sanji’s lips were upon his own again and he smiled when he felt Sanji’s tongue licking across his lower lip. The other was shaking in his arms, Sanji was holding onto his for support, slowly slipping away and Zoro groaned when he allowed Sanji to lick himself into his mouth.

There was that bitter taste of cigarettes that he loved, kissing Sanji felt familiar, like it was meant to be. Maybe it sounded ridiculous, but it felt like that for Zoro and his head was spinning when Sanji started pressing up against him more, his hands roaming all around his body as he was desperate to get Zoro closer. He wanted for them to be over at his place so that they could do more, Sanji’s cheeks bright red when he realised how much he wanted Zoro, but he couldn’t help it.  _ He wanted this for such a long time.  _ And now that he was finally sure, that he was sure that Zoro loved him he felt the self control slipping away. He was holding himself back for such a long time.

Sanji thought that he would be fine on his own, but Zoro turned a switch in him - literally. Sanji’s body was heating up, his face red, but he didn’t back down, moaning along when he felt Zoro’s tongue brushing up against his own and he was shaking. Luckily, Zoro’s strong arms were there wrapped around his waist that kept him up. Zoro was there to catch him and even though it sounded very pretentious and kind of embarrassing, Sanji loved it. Sanji pulled back, breaking the kiss and he shuddered when he looked up at Zoro’s face. Zoro was usually collected, but not this time.

Zoro’s face was red and as wrecked as Sanji’s. Sanji swallowed thickly and shuddered, feeling waves of arousal washing over his body and he mewled when he moved his legs a little bit, Zoro’s eyes falling down and they widened a little bit.  _ Oh.  _ A little smirk spread across Zoro’s lips and Sanji noticed where the other was looking and his cheeks reddened even more so, chewing on his lip and he tried not to make it obvious how turned on he was, but- “Stop staring,” muttered Sanji and Zoro laughed softly, kissing Sanji’s nose.

“Cook, c’mere,” said Zoro and before Sanji knew what was going on next, he was pressing Zoro against the wall and kissing him hungrily again. The kiss was hungrier this time, needy - they needed the kiss more than they needed air at the moment. Zoro threaded his fingers into Sanji’s golden soft locks and gently pulled on the hair, making Sanji gasp out.  _ Shit, that felt so good.  _ Zoro was eager to learn that Sanji liked his hair being pulled on and he felt his own member starting to grow. Fuck, this was getting dangerous, swallowing thickly.

Sanji’s body was on fire, he couldn’t get enough. Kisses didn’t quench his thirst at all, they only made him want more. So much more. Zoro’s lips kissing down his neck, his strong hands travelling all around his body. Those palms were so big, Sanji wondered how they would look around his-  _ Fuck.  _ Zoro groaned out and let out a gasp of surprise when Sanji sank his teeth into his lower lip and sucked on it, dipping in for another kiss. Zoro wanted to do so many things, he wanted to make a mess out of Sanji, but he knew that they were taking things slow. 

Sanji was with women before, but he never was with a man, right? Zoro felt his dick stirring up in his pants again because  _ Sanji has never.  _ He has never with a man and Zoro was - hopefully - going to get the opportunity to show how good it could feel. That was both a huge responsibility, but at the same time he was going to be the first one that was going to see Sanji in that way. He could  _ teach _ him, he got to be- Zoro cursed under his breath and he broke the kiss.

“Fuck,” groaned Zoro and then laughed breathlessly, glancing down upon Sanji’s face.  _ He looked wrecked, he looked so utterly and deliciously wrecked.  _ His lips were slightly swollen from kissing, some of the drool dripping from the corners of his lips, his cheeks red, but it was the eyes that captivated Zoro the most. Those hungry, blue pools were pulling him again, they were begging him for more and Zoro needed to pace himself. He placed his hands upon Sanji’s shoulders and then he shook his head. Did the cook even know what he was doing to him?

“Zoro,” came out Sanji’s voice, almost audible and Zoro looked back down at him. Sanji was still holding onto him, panting and he was feeling hot.  _ He was feeling hot.  _ He needed Zoro to do something about it, he was… his cock was straining against his jeans, to the point of it being painful and he needed Zoro to do something. He needed the other to take the responsibility; this was his fault that he was like this. Wanting, panting, needing more. Sanji licked his lower lip.

“Cook?” stammered Zoro. The air was so tick around them that one could easily cut it with a knife. Zoro’s body was feeling hot too, he was feeling sweaty and he wasn’t really thinking - his mind was filled with Sanji. The way that he said his name, the way that it rolled off of his tongue was perfect. It sounded delicious and he groaned again. “Are you okay?” asked Zoro, forcing himself to think about something else. He placed his hand upon Sanji’s cheek and the blonde gasped again. 

Zoro’s touch was so- “More,” demanded Sanji and Zoro’s heart nearly gave out. “Please, Zoro, do something about it… I can’t wait much longer,” whispered Sanji, pressing his palm against his hard member, completely forgetting that they were still outside. Luckily for both of them, the alley was completely empty, Zoro feeling his throat getting dry and he shuddered again. Did… did he even know what he was saying? “Touch me, more, Zoro I need you,” said Sanji and kissed Zoro again.

Zoro didn’t mind the kiss, but when it was getting heated again, he slowly pulled away and there was a pout on Sanji’s lips. Zoro wouldn’t mind doing all of that, but he wanted Sanji to be very sure to know what he was asking him. “Cook,” said Zoro and Sanji mewled. Why wouldn’t Zoro say his name again? He loved it before, the way that he said his name. It sounded so perfect. “This is important to pay attention, okay?” asked Zoro and Sanji nodded. But he was getting tired of waiting. “Are you sure you know what you’re asking me?” asked Zoro and Sanji nodded.

“Fuck, yes.”

“But you said that you’ve-you’ve never been with a man,” muttered Zoro and then made a long pause. Sanji cocked his head to the side and his heart fell - did that make him less appealing to Zoro? Actually Sanji  _ never,  _ period. “Are you sure that we shouldn’t wait a bit for-”

“D-do you mind the lack of experience?”

Sanji’s voice was small and Zoro quickly shook his head. “No, not at all. In fact that makes me wanna do you so much more,” said Zoro and Sanji laughed breathlessly.  _ Really, now?  _ “But-but I want you to be completely sure,” said Zoro and Sanji was in awe; Zoro was again stuttering. He was letting his guard down, he was showing him his vulnerable side and Sanji liked it. To see the mask come off like that, it was compelling. “Especially because of what happened the last time when I-”

“I want you,” said Sanji quickly and Zoro looked at him.  _ It was different this time because he knew how Zoro really felt about him.  _ “I-I,” said Sanji. “Now that I know how you feel about me, I-I want to, um,” he stammered and Zoro was again leaning in for a kiss. “It’s different, I promise, I’m sure,” said Sanji and met Zoro half way as they were both leaning in for a kiss and he laughed as he pulled away again and shook his head. “I’m so fucking sure, Zoro, please, I need you,” moaned Sanji into their another kiss and Zoro nodded. He wasn’t planning to go all the way, anyway.

“Okay,” said Zoro against Sanji’s lips. Now that he had Sanji’s consent - nice and clear - he was game. But he was going to go slow, nice and slow for Sanji to be comfortable and- “Oh my fucking God, cook, you will be the death of me,” groaned Zoro out loud when he felt Sanji’s lips upon his neck, kissing and sucking in a mark and Sanji licked his lips proudly when he pulled back and watched the mark appear.

“Mine,” said Sanji, his voice low, but shy and Zoro pushed up against him.

“Your place?” finally asked the swordsman and the cook quickly nodded.

“Yes, quickly now,” said Sanji, took Zoro’s hand into his own and started literally dragging him after him. Zoro couldn’t not laugh - someone was very eager. But Sanji wasn’t the only one, Zoro was about to burst at any moment now. 

* * *

Sanji was fumbling with the keys, struggling to unlock the door of the apartment - it was hard. Zoro was standing up against him, arms wrapped around his waist, pressing up against him and Sanji could feel Zoro’s hard member pressing up against his backside and he had to try really  _ hard _ to focus on unlocking the damned door… which wouldn’t unlock! Sanji let out a frustrated groan and Zoro’s lips were on Sanji’s neck now. “Hurry up,” muttered Zoro into Sanji’s ear, nipping his earlobe and the cook scowled at him

“I’m trying, you stupid Marimo,” shot back Sanji and Zoro smiled into the skin of Sanji’s neck.  _ Even so, they still bickered.  _ Zoro kind of liked that, wrapping his arms tighter around Sanji and the blonde one let out a loud gasp. “You piece of shit,” said Sanji, now talking to the key that he was struggling to get into the keyhole and Zoro snickered, kissing his way down Sanji’s way and he grinned all the way up to his ears when he finally heard Sanji unlocking the door. Sanji’s smile grew as well. “Finally.”

“I’ll say,” whispered Zoro, again talking into Sanji’s ear. Zoro’s low voice tickled against Sanji’s ear drum, it made his skin tickle the way that Zoro’s hot breath tickled against his skin. Sanji was smiling - finally, finally he wouldn’t have to hold back anymore. Taking Zoro’s hand again, he dragged him into the apartment and then didn’t hesitate with locking the door.  _ He was waiting for this moment for years, he wanted Zoro ever since he first laid his eyes upon him and he was going to make sure nobody was going to disturb them.  _ Zoro licked across his lower lip when he saw just how eager Sanji was and he was soon right up next to him. “Where to?” asked Zoro, desperate to know where they would be-

“My room,” gasped Sanji and was already dragging Zoro up the stairs, which led up to his room and Zoro was trying his best to keep up with the cook. He thought that the other owuld be holding back more, but he was glad that he was eager - Zoro could barely hold back, keeping up with the other and he knew that once he’d let loose of the last straw of the self-control that was left in him that he would-  _ Fuck, he wanted Sanji so much.  _

Zoro couldn’t put his finger on when it was the last time that he wanted someone as much as he wanted Sanji at the moment, his entire body yearning to get more. “In here,” said Sanji, opened the door of his room and pushed Zoro back through the door. The green haired back snickered when he hit the wall again, watched Sanji close the door of his room and then allowed the cook to claim his lips once more. 

“Cook,” whispered Zoro against Sanji’s lips. 

“Yes,” whispered Sanji and licked Zoro’s lower lip. “C-come this way,” said Sanji, this way shyly, but there was no way that he was backing away now. Not when he wanted Zoro so much. Zoro was wanting, waiting and Sanji swallowed. He grabbed Zoro’s shirt and slowly walked back against his bed, slowly sitting down on the edge of it and then looked up at Zoro, who needed a little while to collect himself. Sanji was sitting on the bed. Waiting for him to make the first move. Sanji was waiting for  _ him.  _ When Zoro realised that his body moved on its own and he stepped closer to Sanji, but instead of sitting next to him on the bed, he dropped down on his knees.

Sanji’s jaw dropped and he blinked a few times.  _ What was Zoro-  _ “Zoro?” asked Sanji, his stomach burning with sweet anticipation. Zoro was kneeling in front of him, willingly. Sanji swallowed, his cock getting harder when Zoro slowly pulled his legs apart. “That’s,” said Sanji and made a little pause again. Zoro waited, sitting on top of his heels, waiting for Sanji to say something. “S-so hot, hurry,” said Sanji and Zoro chuckled again.

“Wanna feel my mouth on you, cook?” teased Zoro and Sanji nodded.

“Please?” asked Sanji.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you, shit cook?” asked Zoro and then gasped when Sanji gently pressed up his foot in between his legs and Zoro closed his eyes tightly, enjoying the sensation, but then he reminded himself that he was there to take care of Sanji and not the other way around. Gulping, Zoro slowly parted Sanji’s legs and came closer, looking up again. “Promise I’ll be much better than any of the previous ones,” said Zoro and Sanji’s cheeks reddened again.  _ Ah, Zoro thought that he- _

“I n-never-”

Zoro was going to be the first one to- The swordsman took a deep breath in and shuddered, his dick straining harder against his pants and he gulped. “Not to worry, I’ll take care of it,” said Zoro, putting on a collected face, but inside he was screaming.  _ With joy.  _ And he was nervous as hell. Sanji’s heart was beating hard against his ribcage. Sanji gave him a little nod and Zoro slowly ran his hands up and down Zoro’s slender legs. Slender, long, yet strong thighs. Zoro shuddered and then looked up at Sanji one more time.  _ Just to be extra sure.  _ “Are you really sure that you’re-”

“Marimo, put your mouth to a better use. Less talking and more-”

“Yes, yes,” said Zoro and then both grinned when their eyes met. Sanji helped Zoro with taking off his pants, keeping his underwear on for the time being and Zoro snickered when he saw Sanji’s underwear. “Hearts?” teased Zoro and Sanji's cheeks reddened. If he knew that he would be getting any action, he wouldn’t have worn those. Sanji gasped when he felt Zoro’s long and slender fingers slowly slipping underneath the boxers, going up his thighs and he tried to squirm his legs together.

“S-shut up,” said Sanji and Zoro smiled.

“It’s adorable.”

“I told you to shut up,” said Sanji and Zoro was silently laughing, leaning up and he kissed Sanji again. HIs fingers continued travelling up, slowly pushing into the sensitive flesh of Sanji’s inner thighs and Sanji was again melting when they pulled away. “Hurry, I can’t,” gasped Sanji and cupped his hard member through his underwear. “Touch me,” he said, Zoro’s mouth watering.  _ Sanji looked so hard,  _ a little damp spot on the front of Sanji’s underwear and Zoro was a mess.

This was going to be fast, Sanji wasn’t going to last long, but at the same time - neither would Zoro. It was going to be fast, whatever was going to happen; they both needed it, to get it out of their systems and after it they could take it slower. “I-I don’t have condoms, w-we can’t go all the way, but I can do this,” said Zoro and dipped his head down. He slowly touched Sanji through his underwear, but his boxers were soon coming off and Sanji was barely holding back. He didn’t want it to end too soon, but at the same time he-

Sanji might have been a virgin, but he didn’t shy away; he could tell how turned on Zoro was, so he kept his legs open, his heart about to jump out of his chest and Zoro moaned. Hard and waiting for him, drooling with precum. Zoro wrapped his fingers around the base of Sanji’s cock and earned an eager moan from the other. “Yes, more,” urged him Sanji and Zoro grinned. 

After a few teasing strokes, Zoro dipped his head lower again and licked a thick strip up underside of Sanji’s cock, flicked his tongue across the tip of Sanji’s cock and enjoyed seeing the other’s thighs tremble. As Zoro took Sanji deeper into his mouth, Sanji threw his head back and without really thinking much about it, pressed his legs together. Zoro looked up and parted Sanji’s legs wider, the blonde gulping and he nodded. “F-feels good,” said Sanji and he could see Zoro’s eyes snickering up to him. 

Zoro was glad for the feedback that Sanji was providing him with, moving his head to the side a bit, taking Sanji as deep as he could, hollowing his cheeks as he sucked, making sure to never break eye contact with Sanji. Zoro’s dark eyes were watching him - Zoro was a beast, like a tiger, eating Sanji up with his gaze and Sanji was shaking all over his body, leaning over and he buried his fingers into Zoro’s hair, not pulling too hard on it, but still letting Zoro know that he was in control now.

As Sanji rolled his hips, fucking himself into Zoro’s mouth, the other couldn’t handle it anymore. He dropped his hand down, quickly undid his pants and pulled his hard member out, jerking himself off fast, keeping the grip around himself firm and he could tell that Sanji was close. He was breathing faster, Zoro moaning along. He loved the way Sanji was holding his hair. Sanji dropped his gaze down again and when he saw that Zoro was touching himself as well he  _ couldn’t- _

“Z-Zoro, so close, I’m gonna-”

“Me too,” stammered Zoro and leaned up again, wrapping his fingers of his free hand around Sanji and allowing the other to crush their lips together in a hungry kiss. It didn’t take too long for the two of them to reach their limit, Sanji coming with Zoro's name on his lips and Zoro moaned along. “Sanji, me too…  _ Shit, _ ” cursed Zoro as he couldn’t hold back anymore, his body tensing up, leaning up against Sanji with his forehead and Sanji was slowly coming back down to Earth, breathing hard and fast and-

“Fucking hell, wow,” said Sanji and there was a small, but bright smile on Zoro’s face. “You’re talented.”

“What is that? A compliment?” teased Zoro and Sanji laughed.

“Don’t get used to it, Marimo,” said Sanji and Zoro slowly leaned up and kissed Sanji, softer this time. After they both cleaned up, they were sitting together on the bed, Zoro reaching out to take Sanji’s hand and the blonde one flushed a little bit. “So now what happens?” asked Sanji softly and Zoro smiled.

“We take things slow,” said Zoro and Sanji nodded. He liked the sound of that. “As boyfriends, we-”

“Boyfriends,” whispered Sanji and Zoro looked at him. Yes? Sanji’s smile was getting wider and he leaned against the other. “Ah, crap, I’m so happy,” said Sanji and looked up as he leaned up against Zoro. “I love you, you stupid Marimo,” said Sanji and Zoro chuckled and hummed along. He was happy too.

Zoro didn’t say those three words for a long time, but now- “I love you… too,” said Zoro back and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment for a bit longer.


	14. Chapter 14

Zoro was still very much unsure of this. Sanji was going to meet his friends, they were all waiting for Zoro’s boyfriend to appear in their usual cafe and even if at the start Zoro was sure that this was a good idea, he wasn’t so sure anymore because he had a feeling that his friends were going to say something that was going to embarrass him in front of Sanji. Not in a bad way, but still - he wanted Sanji to continue to have a cool image of him. Zoro was trying to be a _cool_ boyfriend, but his friends knew that there was so much to him and he didn’t want Sanji to… find him lame in any kind of sense and he gritted his teeth, his cheeks red when he glanced around the room and he rubbed his palms together and cleared his throat.

Robin, who was the first one to notice that Zoro was looking kind of nervous, looked at him and gave him a little smile and cocked her head to the side. Zoro smiled and then chewed on his lip. Zoro wasn’t all that worried about Robin or Nami; they were chill. He was more worried about the trio over there - Usopp, Luffy and Chopper. They were troublemakers as it was, but when the three of them were together they were unstoppable and Zoro ran his fingers through his hair and gave Robin a little weak smile and Robin’s smile widened a little bit and she chuckled.

“Nervous?” asked Robin and Zoro nodded.

“Yes,” said Zoro and then looked over at the _unstoppable trio_ again and huffed under his breath. “I want this to go well, you know?” asked Zoro. It was amazing how often he was nervous about things since he had met Sanji. It’s been about a couple of weeks since the two of them became an official couple and things were going quite well. Sanji met Usopp and Luffy so far, but they didn’t really know each other that well - so that was why that day was so important. Sanji was going to be meeting his friends in depth for the very first time and he hoped that all was going to go well.

Robin gave him a little smile and she nodded. “I know,” said Robin and eyed the trio over at the side and grinned. Ah, she knew what was on Zoro’s mind and she laughed softly. “Worried about those three?” she asked and Zoro nodded, but also laughed because it was kind of ridiculous. 

Robin didn’t really worry too much when she introduced Franky to them for the first time - Robin was a lot more chill about things. But at the same time, Franky fit right in; he was as much of a dork as them. “I know that all will go well,” said Zoro and then huffed under his breath. “Ugh, this is so unlike me,” said Zoro and felt his cheeks heat up again. “Okay, I’ve got this, all will go well,” said Zoro and then chewed on his lip and Robin chuckled, humming along.

Zoro really did change quite a bit ever since he met Sanji - for the better. In her opinion. “Don’t worry, Zoro,” said Nami over at the side and gave him a little wink. “If any of them dare do misbehave, they will have to deal with me,” she said, cracking her knuckles and the trio slowly turned over to the red-head and they swallowed thickly. Chopper in particular looked scared, meanwhile Luffy was laughing and Usopp was trying not to burst out laughing. But it was because he was happy - Usopp was happy that all worked out for Zoro. As all the others were.

Sanji told Zoro about what Luffy did for him; Luffy didn’t mention going over to his boyfriend and giving him his number. And Zoro was beyond thankful to Luffy for that. He tried thanking him in private, but Luffy told him that it was _‘no biggie.’_ Maybe not to him, but to Zoro it meant the world. Luffy was always looking out for all of them; he was the captain of their group so to speak and he was an amazing friend. It was then that Zoro slowly started calming down and he smiled again, nodding. 

Chopper gulped and tapped Zoro’s shoulder. “Zoro, tell Nami to shut off her demon form,” whined Chopper and Zoro - including the others around the table - burst into laughter and Chopper rolled his eyes. “Not helping,” he whined. The conversation around the table continued and not even ten minutes later the door of the cafe opened and someone stepped inside; it was Sanji, of course.

Zoro didn’t have to say it. Sure Usopp and Luffy have met Sanji before, but Nami, Robin _and_ Chopper were able to tell that it was Sanji. It was the way that Zoro suddenly got very quiet. And the way that he looked at Sanji really was something else. Nami nudged Robin’s side, who gave her a little nod and a wink. Chopper grinned and looked at Luffy, who gave him a little nod - yes, that indeed was Sanji. Zoro took a deep breath, unable to hold back a smile from tugging at his lips and he was soon on his legs and walking over to the other.

Sanji’s eyes were scanning the cafe, but he didn’t have to wait for too long because Marimo soon approached and he chuckled, but his cheeks reddened. _He still couldn’t believe that he had such a hot boyfriend._ Sanji pushed those thoughts away and he put on his usual poker face and winked when Zoro approached him. “Ah, here to take me to your table?” asked Sanji and winked. Zoro nodded.

“W-well, yeah,” said Zoro. Aw, he was flushing and stuttering, adorable. Sanji bit his lip and he glanced past Sanji, where he saw Luffy and Usopp and he smiled. Ah, there were three more people there that day that Sanji was keen on meeting and he looked again at Zoro.

“What a true gentleman,” teased Sanji with a wink.

“Shut up,” said Zoro in a fond way and leaned closer to Sanji to place a kiss upon his lips. What Zoro learned was that Sanji loved public displays of affection. Since the two of them have gotten together and Sanji was finally _out and proud_ , Sanji was always all feely and touchy with him in public. Zoro didn’t mind it, he loved Sanji always reaching out to him to hold his hand. Or to kiss his cheek. It was different to what Zoro was used to and it was… _good._

“Let’s get going then?” asked Sanji and snickered when he saw the others all staring at them and Zoro’s cheeks reddened when he suddenly felt all of the stares from behind and he smiled eventually. “I can’t wait to meet your friends,” he muttered and reached out for Zoro’s hand. Zoro happily linked their fingers together and slowly started walking over to their table, slowly guiding Sanji over to it. 

The cook was excited, yet nervous. This was different, he wasn’t used to meeting friends of his significant other. _This was the first relationship that he was in, anyway._ So, he was nervous because he wanted to make a good impression. But also, he was beyond excited, barely containing his excitement and he smiled when he saw Luffy happily waving to him with both of his arms extended up above his hands and he grinned. “Sanji, hi!” was cheering the loud one and Zoro grinned.

“Ah, he’s as energetic as ever,” commented Zoro and Sanji chuckled. 

“Luffy, hi,” said Sanji happily and looked over at Usopp. “Usopp,” said Sanji and gave the other a little nod. Usopp happily greeted Sanji as he sat down next to Zoro and then glanced across the table - there were still three people that he hasn’t been officially introduced to, but Zoro did tell him a little bit about them and he smiled as he looked over to Chopper and then the girls. Robin was smiling, while Nami was carefully studying Sanji, but eventually she smiled as well. Zoro sat down next to his boyfriend and then hummed along. _Right, he needed to do a proper, formal introduction to Sanji and his friends._

Well, you’ve met my roommates before,“ said Zoro and the other two grinned when Sanji looked at them and nodded. “That’s Robin, Nami,” he said, pointing over to each of them and Sanji happily smiled as she looked over to the girls and extended his hand out, greeting both of them politely. 

“Hello, ladies,” said Sanji and Zoro rolled his eyes. _Wait, was he again going to-_

“Well, aren’t you the charming one,” teased Nami and then looked at Zoro, giving him a little wink. Zoro glanced away and looked over to Chopper, who was anxiously waiting for his turn to be introduced. As he was the youngest of them, Zoro smiled and then looked over to Chopper, who perked up and cleared his throat. _This was it, he was finally meeting Sanji._ Zoro told them a lot about him already!

“And this is Chopper,” said Zoro and Sanji was more than happy to shake his hand.

“Ah, you’re the best upcoming doctor, so I’ve heard,” said Sanji and Chopper’s cheeks turned red and he looked away. It was still hard for Chopper to receive compliments. He was working on it, but when someone would say something remotely nice about him, he would flush, his words would get tied up and he didn’t know how to react. It was somewhere between embarrassment, denial and happiness. Mixing all three of those was surely an interesting thing to behold and Sanji grinned when he saw what Zoro was talking about when he mentioned Chopper’s difficulties about receiving a compliment.

“I’m not the best,” said Chopper and then glanced away. “I mean I was at the top of my class, but it’s not like I’m good or anything,” he said and then made a little pause. “I mean I don’t know… thank you, I guess?” he asked and Zoro’s smile widened. Sanji was laughing along.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Cook,” said Robin and Sanji looked at her.

“Oh, do call me Sanji, _Mademoiselle,_ ” said Sanji, trying to make a good impression, but Zoro on the other hand didn’t really like it. Ah, but he recognised the feeling as jealousy and he quickly cleared his throat. He didn’t say anything, but his hand was quickly upon Sanji’s and Robin giggled when she saw his reaction and gave Zoro a little wink.

“A true gentleman,” was all that Robin said and Zoro was slowly relaxing and turning off his walls that he suddenly put around Sanji without the blonde one even noticing it. But Robin sure did and it made her smile so much. Zoro was protective of Sanji and it was a good thing to see, slowly leaning back against her chair and Nami decided to break the silence that suddenly fell between them. It wasn’t awkward, it was just that someone was needed to break the initial ice.

“So, Zoro tells us that you’re a cook,” said Nami excitedly and Sanji nodded.

“If fact - he’s one of the youngest sous chefs out there,” said Zoro suddenly and thus surprised Sanji; was he bragging on his behalf? Sanji’s smile was side and he tried not to laugh because he could see a flush creeping upon Marimo’s cheeks and Zoro glanced away. It was so easy to make him flush, how couldn’t see this from the entire beginning? 

“Really? That’s amazing,” said Usopp and Luffy was quick to agree.

“Yes, I’ve been to their restaurant. It’s a pity you didn’t want to come with me, your loss,” said Luffy, who was now talking to Usopp. Luffy invited Usopp to come with him to Baratie the other day when he spoke to Sanji, but Usopp refused as he didn’t want to stick his nose into other people’s business. In Luffy’s opinion, it was such a big loss that he didn’t come with him the other day because he had there literally one of the most delicious meals that he ever had the chance of eating till that day.

“I told you that I wasn’t… It’s not relevant anymore,” said Usopp quickly.

“Well,” said Sanji and then smiled. “Not to worry, you can all come over to Baratie the next time around and I’ll cook something yummy for all of you,” said Sanji and Luffy’s eyes lit up. Zoro rolled his eyes, but Sanji smiled again and he chuckled. “You’re always welcome there,” said Sanji softly and Zoro swallowed thickly.

“Zoro,” said Luffy seriously and Sanji glanced towards him.

“Hmm?”

Luffy was sparkling - he had a sparkling aura all around him. Sparkles and flowers were flying around Luffy, Zoro could see it so clearly and he didn’t know if he should laugh or not. Luffy was touched by Sanji’s words. “Marry him,” said Luffy and Zoro’s heart leaped up to his throat and his cheeks were bright red. _Didn’t they have a talk about not saying anything stupid around Sanji?_ Sanji was taken back a little bit from Luffy’s sudden words, but he smiled and looked at Zoro, who didn’t dare to look up at him.

Zoro didn’t know what to think what was going to come out of this whole thing. _Did Sanji now think that Zoro was already planning their wedding with his friends?_ Of course not, it was nothing like that, but Luffy made it sound like that. Sanji, on the other hand, knew where Luffy was coming from. In Luffy’s mind it was very simple - if Zoro married Sanji, the yummy meals would always be there. It was amazing how simple minded he was. Simple minded, but not in a bad way. Sanji envied him in some ways.

Unlike Luffy, Sanji was always overthinking things and he knew that he wasn’t the only one. Zoro was pretty much like him when it came to that. But Luffy had no difficulties with saying what was on his mind. He had no filter and Sanji appreciated that about him, wishing that he could be more like him and his smile widened a little bit. Sanji chewed on his lip and Luffy narrowed his eyes when everyone around the table suddenly went quiet. Was it something that he said? Sanji chuckled - Luffy was so perceptive, yet such an airhead. It wasn't a combination that he had seen yet, but he… liked it. Luffy was a good friend. 

“That’s all up to Marimo and if he behaves,” said Sanji in the end, going along with Luffy’s game and Luffy gave Zoro a serious look.

“Zoro!” said Luffy and his voice was serious. _Way too serious than it should have been._ In the end, Zoro bit his lip not to laugh and he nodded.

“I will behave,” said Zoro and Sanji smiled next to him, making the others around the table laugh.

* * *

“I love your friends,” said Sanji. It was later that day, Zoro was over at Sanji’s. His old man was at home, so the two of them were spending their time in Sanji’s room. They came over to his place straight away after the meeting with Zoro’s friends and Sanji was in an amazing mood; he wasn’t in such a good mood in a long time. Zoro’s friends were amazing. All of them were fun to hang out with and he had a feeling that he was going to get along fine with all of them. 

“Yeah?” asked Zoro and felt his cheeks heating up. He was glad to hear about that and he was quite content with how it all went down. 

“Yep,” said Sanji and smiled. “Especially Luffy, he is a quite,” he said and hummed. “An interesting guy,” said Sanji in the end and Zoro chuckled and nodded. Oh, he had no idea how interesting Luffy could be. But in a good way, of course. Zoro crossed his arms on top of his chest and made a little pause. 

“I owe so much to him,” said Zoro and Sanji looked at him. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have met all of the others,” he said and laughed. “Who knew that calling a random add I found online that was asking for a roommate at a really cheap price would turn out this way? asked Zoro and Sanji chuckled.

“You took a leap of faith,” said Sanji in the end and Zoro slowly nodded. “It’s good to do that once in a while, you’re rewarded for it in the end,” said Sanji, blowing out the smoke as he was smoking and Zoro hummed along. _Was he now talking about himself?_ Like he took a leap of faith with him? Zoro was happy that he did. 

“Like you did with me?” asked Zoro carefully and Sanji nodded.

“Something like that,” said Sanji and winked, leaning against Zoro again and they both smiled. “So,” said Sanji and Zoro looked over at him. “You said once that you do kendo, right?” asked Sanji and Zoro perked up. Oh, right! He did tell Sanji about it and he chewed on his lip. “Would be nice if you took me to the dojo where you train once,” commented Sanji and the reaction he got from Zoro was really something. He didn’t expect to see Zoro be so… _happy?_ Zoro’s smile was bright and his heart jumped.

“Really?” asked Zoro and Sanji laughed. 

“Well, yeah, I wanna see you in action,” said Sanji. “And kick your ass,” said Sanji, waggling his eyebrows. Zoro laughed and then hummed along. Who was going to kick his ass? Sanji? 

“Pft,” said Zoro, laughing, but not in an offensive way and Sanji pouted.

“Don’t laugh at me, I can easily kick your ass in there,” said Sanji and then grinned. “I know a thing or two about kicking ass and if you don’t make seriously, Marimo, I’ll-” started Sanji ranting away, but Zoro caught him mid sentence by leaning in and pressing their lips together. Zoro has learned that that was a rather effective way to keep Sanji silent and when they parted, Sanji glanced down, his cheeks bright red, Zoro dragging his tongue over his lower lip. Sanji was pissed off when he saw the grin on Zoro’s lips.

“Hm, good way to keep you quiet,” laughed Zoro softly and Sanji pressed his lips together.

“You idiot,” muttered Sanji and Zoro leaned in.

“Love you too,” he whispered into Sanji’s ear and started laughing when he saw that the flush upon Sanji’s lips only deepened. 


	15. Chapter 15

Fresh out of the shower, Sanji was hurrying around the kitchen to get some drinks for him and Zoro. Zoro was over, the old man was at the restaurant - Sanji made sure that he wasn’t going to be coming home anytime soon - and everything was ready. Well, at least in Sanji’s opinion. Zoro was there, he was freshly out of the shower, all cleaned up, he had everything ready in the bedroom and he hoped that that day was finally going to be the day that he and Zoro were taking their relationship on another level.  _ Going all the way.  _ Sanji made plans and he was going to make sure that they were going to work. He and Zoro have been dating for over a month now and yet they didn’t really get much further than they had the last time. Fooling around, but that was it. Sanji wanted more and he finally plucked up the courage to bring it up.

Sanji was a man with a plan, he was a man on a mission and he was going to make sure that it was going to work. He didn’t know why, but every time he and Zoro would start making out, Marimo would soon pull back and the moment would be over. He would leave Sanji hot and wanting and it was starting to get on his nerves. Zoro didn’t really seem like someone that would shy away from doing it, right? Sanji’s cheeks reddened a little bit and he cleared his cheeks as he grabbed two beer bottles and then carried them over to the living room, where Zoro was patiently waiting for him on the couch and Sanji studied him carefully before he finally sat down next to him and handed him the beer. Zoro’s smile widened and he sighed happily.

“Beer,” said Zoro happily and Sanji snorted. He sat down next to Zoro, leaned up against his body and stared down at his own bottle and hummed along. Zoro glanced down and arched his brow. The blonde looked like he was thinking about something, but he decided to leave it for the time being. The beer was calling out to him, so he opened the bottle and took a few deep chugs of it, moaning along and he exhaled deeply. “Ah, that’s it, amazing,” said Zoro and Sanji looked up at him.

“Sometimes I wonder if you love beer more than me,” joked Sanji and Zoro rolled his eyes. The cook was again thinking about something stupid wasn’t he? Sanji laughed when he saw Marimo rolling his eyes and he made a few sips of his own beer and then placed it onto the table that was in front of them and curled up next to Zoro, who was still paying more attention to the goddamn beer bottle and he crossed his arms on top of his chest and pouted.  _ Wasn’t he going to look at him? _

Zoro continued drinking his beer - in Sanji’s opinion - in a very obscene way and it was starting to get really on the cook’s nerves so much that he sat up and took the bottle away from him and placed it onto the table next to his own and Zoro grumbled. “Hey, what gives? Give it back to me,” whined the swordsman and Sanji shook his head and continued frowning. When Sanji was frowning his eyebrows would get an even more interesting shape and it was really hard for Zoro to take him seriously. Still, the green haired man clicked with his tongue, but still listened. “Yes?”

“Pay attention to me, not beer,” said Sanji and Zoro laughed.

“You’re jealous of a beer bottle?”

“Of course, don’t be ridiculous,” said Sanji and rolled his eyes. “But if you haven’t noticed - it’s just the two of us,” said Sanji and Zoro looked around. As a matter of fact, Zoro was very well aware of the fact that it was just the two of them. He knew that they had the whole place for only themselves and that was why he was trying to pace himself. Sanji clicked with his tongue because he wasn’t getting much reaction for Marimo and he huffed under his breath.  _ He was really going to have to spell it out for him?  _ How thick headed could the other be? “We can do something fun,” said Sanji, waggling his eyebrows and leaned up to Zoro, who finally showed  _ some _ reaction.

Zoro gasped, but remained his posture. Still, it was enough for Sanji for now and he grinned because it seemed that Zoro was aware how  _ alone _ they were at the moment and he took advantage of that, leaning in and he pressed his lips on top of Zoro’s. Zoro didn’t really mind the kiss, he brought his hand up and he cupped Sanji’s face, leaning his head to the side and he grunted when he felt Sanji’s tongue darting out and licking across his lower lip. A deep, almost primal grunt. It always made Sanji crave for more and that day he was finally going to get more. If not he was going to kick Zoro’s ass - seriously.

“Cook,” groaned Zoro and Sanji happily licked himself into Zoro’s mouth, tasting the bitterness of beer still on Zoro’s tongue. It made him smile and he leaned in for more when he felt Zoro pulling back. He didn’t let him get away that time, grabbing him by the back of his neck and he pulled him closer, sinking his teeth into Zoro’s lower lip and he gently sucked on his lower lip, Zoro again grunting, but this time it was different. Zoro was breathing way faster.

Breathing fast, heartbeat getting more rapid and Zoro tried his best to pull back, but Sanji didn’t let him. He kissed him like a starving man and he pinned him back against the couch. He liked that Sanji wasn’t really shy even if he was a virgin. He was a little devil that was what Sanji was and Zoro did like that side of him. Still, he tried to be a  _ gentleman.  _ On the day that they got together, things got very heated and they did say that they were going to take things slowly. But was it too slow? Zoro didn’t tell, he didn’t want to push Sanji too much. It was still going to be his first time and it made Zoro a little bit nervous as well. It was-

“Mmm, Zoro,” slipped past Sanji’s lips as he straddled Zoro’s legs and sat on top of him, leaning down and he crushed their lips together again, feeling Zoro tensing up a little bit underneath him, but he soon relaxed and yanked Sanji closed, holding him by the back of his shirt as they were kissing again, tongues battling for dominance, btu it was a battle that Sanji was more than happy to lose. He loved it when Zoro took control over things and he melted against him, laying almost on top of Zoro, hands grabbing the layers of clothing that were separating them.

Sanji needed more. He needed the feel of Zoro’s hot and heated skin up against his own. He wanted to explore more of Zoro’s body with his own hands, he wanted Zoro’s lips to examine his body. “More,” crooned Sanji against Zoro’s lips and slipped his hands under Zoro’s shirt, lifting it up. His fingers were gently outlining the ridges of Zoro’s muscles. So firm. Sanji shuddered because he could feel that that wasn’t the only part of Zoro’s body that was firm and he glanced down and noticed a very visible bulge in Zoro’s pants. “Seems like you want more too, huh?” asked Sanji and rolled his hips, his own erection pressing up against Zoro’s, who gasped and placed his hands on top of Sanji’s shoulders and gently pulled him back.

“Cook, wait,” said Zoro and Sanji groaned, but did pull back. Still sitting on top of Zoro, he folded his arms on top of his chest and he couldn’t hide his disappointment even if he wanted to. What was wrong with Zoro? Suddenly he didn’t want to do it with him anymore? He could barely keep his hands to himself the other day when they were in such a hurry to get back to Sanji’s place, but-

“Why?” whined Sanji. The blonde realised that he sounded way too needy, but he didn’t care. A flush welcomed his and he bit down onto his lip. His whole body was shivering, he needed Zoro. He needed Zoro to…  _ to do so many things to him.  _ Sanji swallowed and squirmed when Zoro moved under him and Marimo groaned as well. “You don’t want to?” asked Sanji and bit his lip in a way that made Zoro believe that he was doing all of this on purpose.

“I do,” said Zoro.

“But?”

“We said that we would take things slowly,” said Zoro and Sanji arched his brow. Was that all that it was? “I usually fuck things up by taking things too fast, so now I want to do it all properly - slow and steady. Like we talked about it,” said Zoro and then groaned again. Ugh, it was so hard not to attack Sanji though. Something told him that the blonde wouldn’t really mind it. “Not gonna lie, it was hard to hold back, though, but I want you to be really sure before we… you know,” said Zoro and his cheeks were now red.

Sanji almost forgot how easy it was to make Zoro flush it if the circumstances were correct. Sanji bit his lip and he laughed softly. “I think you’ve left me waiting long enough,” said Sanji and Zoro looked up at him, still trying to make sure if he was really  _ ready _ . “Please? I’m really sure, so just stop holding back and make love to me already,” said Sanji and rocked his hips again. And Zoro made him worry about it - Sanji thought that it was his own fault that Zoro wouldn’t-

“Damn, cook,” said Zoro and placed his hands down, on top of Sanji’s hips and he pulled him closer, Sanji moving his hips and creating a pleasant friction between them, but it was nowhere near enough. Sanji was trying to get more and he shuddered when Zoro’s wandering hands found his way back to his ass and Sanji whined when Zoro squeezed the place and moved his hips up a bit too. “You’re really sure?”

“Yes,” mewled Sanji and rested his forehead against Zoro’s. “Fuck me already, idiot,” groaned Sanji when he finally had enough of it and Zoro laughed and grinned.

_ Well, that could be arranged. _

* * *

“A-ah, s-stupid Marimo, e-enough,” managed to say Sanji in between his moans, fisting the sheets and tried his best to keep his legs apart, his hips up. His face was stuffed in the pillow, trying his best to keep up with Zoro, who was slowly prepping him. Sanji wished that Zoro would hurry up, though, because he didn’t know how long he would be able to last. Also he was embarrassed by how loud he was; Sanji didn’t know that it could feel  _ this _ good and it was just Zoro’s fingers. He couldn’t even imagine how good it would be when Zoro would finally be-

“Need to be sure,” said Zoro with amusement in his voice, eyes again falling down, spreading Sanji’s cheeks with his free hand and his eyes were devouring the sight - Sanji was amazing. He was taking his fingers so well; already three in him and he was opening up good for him.  _ Just a little bit and-  _ Zoro felt his own cock twitching and he moaned along because he couldn’t wait to be buried inside of Sanji. He leaned over to Sanji and pressed a kiss in between his shoulder blades, curling the fingers inside of Sanji, who arched his back when he felt Zoro’s fingers hitting his prostate again.

“F-fuck,” whined Sanji.

“Mm-hmm, soon,” said Zoro and leaned to the side, his smile growing.  _ Sanji really did prepare that day.  _ Zoro was quite amused; lube and condoms - all were there and he snickered, again going back to Sanji, who was now moving his own hips, trying to get Zoro’s fingers deeper, but it wasn’t enough. “I could come just like this, seeing you fuck yourself on my fingers,” said Zoro and Sanji whined. 

Sanji didn’t expect that Zoro would be into dirty talk, but he  _ loved _ it. Sanji’s toes curled and he whined again because Zoro just wouldn’t listen to him; he was on the edge, slipping his hand down and he wrapped it around the base of his cock, whining loudly when he denied himself the approaching orgasm and Zoro licked across his lower lip. That was so fucking hot. However, Zoro also couldn’t hold back.

“Zoro,” gasped Sanji and felt Zoro hovering on top of him, caressing his back and he pushed back up against him. A little gasp that he got from Zoro made him grin all the way up to his ears. Sanji was about to say something snarky, but he was slowly turned around onto his back and he shuddered when he was face to face with Zoro, gulping. Oh, they were doing it face to face? That was kind of… embarrassing. Sanji bit his lip and glanced away, Zoro giving him a little grin and he leaned in, licking his lower lip. Sanji was more than happy to deepen their kiss, wrapping his arms around Zoro’s neck and he guided him closer, opening his legs up so that Zoro could have better access.

“Shit, I can’t… much longer, cook,” whispered Zoro against Sanji’s lips and Sanji gave him a little cheeky grin.

“Hurry up then,” challenged Sanji.

It shouldn’t be as hot as it looked to Sanji - Zoro tearing the condom open with his teeth, but it was. Sanji watched how the other slowly rolled it down his length, Zoro’s quickly back between Sanji’s legs, giving him a long kiss, reaching over to the side for the bottle of lube and Sanji felt his heart hammering against his ribcage.  _ Soon, finally!  _ He was trembling with happiness, feeling a little bit nervous but he knew that he was in good hands. Zoro’s large palm cupped his face and Sanji ended their kiss by kissing the tip of the other’s nose. Zoro wrinkled his nose and Sanji chuckled. 

“Lift your legs,” said Zoro softly and Sanji did as he was told, Zoro taking his legs and lifted them over his shoulders. Sanji gasped and reached down with his hand, cupping his hard member.  _ Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.  _ “Here I go, if-if it hurts, tell-”

“Stop stalling, I want you inside,” said Sanji, his voice small but determined. 

Zoro gulped and nodded. Opening up the bottle of lube, Zoro lubed himself up and gave Sanji a little smile, who was waiting in anticipation. Sanji bit into his lip and then took in a deep breath, bracing himself when Zoro’s cock pressed up against his entrance, letting out a little whine and he brought a hand up, placing his forearm over his lips, trying to muffle his sounds. He still didn’t know how he felt about it. Zoro, on the other hand, loved that Sanji was loud. When he was listening to him before while he was prepping him - it was delicious, licking across his lower lip.

Zoro slowly started pushing in, making sure to brace himself.  _ Sanji felt amazing.  _ So warm, hot… tight, it was hard not to start moving right away. Slowly pushing back again, slowly in and he looked over to Sanji, trying to see if he was doing okay. There was slight discomfort that he could see on his face and he leaned down, kissing him, stopping half way in, making sure that Sanji was doing okay. “Cook,” whispered Zoro and Sanji slowly cracked his eyes open. “Y-you doing okay?”

“K-keep going,” whined Sanji.

“Are you sure? Hurts?”

“I-I’m fine,” groaned Sanji and moaned again because Zoro wrapped his fingers around his cock, trying to make him forget about any possible discomfort that he might have been feeling. Sanji nodded and Zoro pushed in again. Little by little, Zoro was finally fully inside and Sanji was shaking all over. Feeling stretched open - was a new feeling, but he loved it. Whining, Sanji wanted Zoro to start moving. He felt impatient.

“You feel so good, s-so tight,” whispered Zoro into his ear, nipping his earlobe and Sanji couldn’t take it anymore.

“Move, stupid Marimo, move,” ordered Sanji.

And Zoro did move. Picking up a slow pace at first, but as Sanji urged him to go faster, Zoro did exactly that. As Zoro went faster, it was impossible for Sanji to hold back his moans. Zoro’s eyes were carefully watching his face, studying it…  _ it was too much.  _ And the moans that he was making; Sanji was beyond embarrassed. Zoro changed the angle a little bit and that was when Sanji finally felt good. No, not good but fucking  _ amazing.  _ And as Zoro continued hitting that spot, Sanji’s voice went high pitched and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t know how to stop it. It felt so good. 

_ Too good.  _

Just what kind of a face was he making?

Sanji hit his face with his arm, bringing both of them up as he couldn’t control it anymore. Zoro clicked with his tongue and slowly pulled Sanji’s hands away. “W-wanna see your face, don’t hold back,” said Zoro and leaned down. “Wanna hear your moans as I fuck you, c’mon,” urged him Zoro and Sanji just pulled him down for a kiss. 

Their bodies moved as one, the pleasure was rising and it soon came all crashing down on them. Sanji yelped out Zoro’s name when he was pushed over the edge, Zoro slowly riding out his orgasm and he quickly leaned down, kissing Sanji again. “S-Sanji,” stammered Zoro, Sanji more than happy to return him the kiss, breathing hard. His head felt fuzzy, but he was kind of present there - he knew that Zoro was kissing him, so he was kissing him back and when Zoro broke the kiss, Sanji started giggling.

_ Shit, that wasn’t very chill and cool of him!  _

The next few moments went by in silence. Sanji was trying to catch his break, Zoro laying down next to him, prompting himself up onto his elbow and was waiting for Sanji to calm down a little bit. Sanji eyed Zoro, who was watching him and…  _ waiting for feedback?  _ Sanji’s cheeks reddened and he ducked his head down. “You’re staring too much, Marimo,” said Sanji softly and Zoro bit his lip.

“Sorry,” said Zoro and then laid down. “Are you okay?”

“Wonderful,” said Sanji as he happily curled up next to his boyfriend, who pulled up the sheets around them and gave him a little smile. “Need shower,” said Sanji and Zoro nodded. “Join me in there?”

“In a minute,” said Zoro and kissed Sanji again.

_ Well, Sanji could stay in bed and cuddle for a few extra minutes.  _ He wasn’t going to complain.


	16. Chapter 16

“Bring it on, Marimo,” teased Sanji as he was trying to get Zoro to come over him and attack him. Sanji accompanied Zoro to the dojo that day; it was always fun to go there with him. Seeing him train was always a treat for Sanji - he was a beast out there, completely unbeatable and Sanji was mostly drooling as he watched his boyfriend train with the other members of the dojo. Though in Sanji’s honest opinion, Zoro should be  _ teaching  _ the others; he really was the best in the dojo. The only one that was stronger than him was Mihawk, but Sanji didn’t meet him yet, so in his eyes, Zoro was the best. Though he still had the plan to kick Zoro’s ass and that day was finally going to be the day. He maybe wasn’t really all that good when it came to using the woodest swords, but he knew a thing or two about martial arts and he narrowed his eyes and waggled his eyebrows. 

Zoro rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the place. For the sake of it all, it was only the two of them in the dojo that day. It was Sunday, early and the practice didn’t start yet. Sanji dragged him down to the dojo because he claimed that he was finally going to kick his ass. It was something that Zoro knew that wouldn’t happen - he was really, really sure in it. He was a champion and even if he didn’t like bragging, he knew that Sanji didn’t stand a chance against him. Right? He almost felt bad for the cook, so he decided to go easy on the blonde one. He didn’t want to hurt him, but at the same time both of them were very competitive.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, cook, we’ll see who will win,” said Zoro and then handed Sanji the wooden sword that was laying on the floor. Sanji narrowed his eyes and arched his brow.  _ Was he making fun of him?  _ Sanji clicked with his tongue and then rolled his eyes. Oh, no, Marimo didn’t get to do that. Now he was really going to kick his ass, he was going to make Zoro eat up his words. “But if you lose - don’t feel sorry for yourself. After all I’m a champion,” threw out Zoro and Sanji felt his competitive side being alive and kicking. 

“Psh, if you think I’ll let you win so easily, you’re greatly mistaken, Zoro,” said Sanji and Zoro grinned. Well, he did like a challenge, he liked a worthy opponent. He didn’t know if Sanji actually trained anything, but something told him that there was something more to the cook.  _ He was way too confident about kicking his ass.  _ Maybe it was just Sanji being Sanji, but Zoro decided that it was for the best if he kept his guard up. He didn’t want to let his guard down and let Sanji humiliate him in his own dojo. Mihawk could be watching, he had the tendency to creep up on them training every now and then and if he saw him losing to Sanji, he would never let him live it down. 

Sanji leaned down and took the sword into his hands and started spinning it around in his hand and was humming along. He wasn’t really skilled at using it, but it sounded easy enough. Just aim at Marimo and swing with it as hard as he possibly could. In theory it was easy, but he saw how good Zoro was out there and he rubbed the back of his head. Well, he was quick on his legs, Sanji was pretty sure that he could kick Zoro’s ass just fine. Zoro laughed when he saw Sanji trying to hold the sword the right way and it felt almost unfair to be going up against him like that. “Cook, maybe I should show you how to hold it correctly and-”

“No, no, I can do this,” said Sanji and then hunched down. “So, how do we do this? I come there and kick your butt, that sounds simple enough,” said Sanji and a little smile spread across Zoro’s lip and he hummed along, nodding. Yeah, it sounded simple in theory, but Sanji was never going to get to him. Zoro hunched down as well and because he wanted to keep things fair, he was only going to be using his one sword. The three sword style was way too advanced. This was still supposed to be only for fun, he didn’t want to possibly hurt Sanji for real and he then signed Sanji to come closer.

“I’d like to see you try,” said Zoro and Sanji grinned as well.

Oh, this was going to be so much fun. “It’ll be a piece of cake,” said Sanji and then finally stopped stalling. Sanji could feel adrenaline spreading through his veins as he was running towards Zoro, his grin getting wider because Zoro wasn’t moving. Why? Well, this was going to be easier than he thought. Was Zoro going to let him win? Sanji didn’t really care for it, he wanted to kick his ass and that was all that mattered. But Zoro wasn’t a fool, Sanji should have known that it seemed too easy.

When Sanji was about to strike with his sword, Zoro simply jumped away and Sanji gritted his teeth when he heard Zoro’s loud chuckle. His cheeks burned with embarrassment, but he shook his head and didn’t let that get him. Fine, he just wasn’t thinking too much. “I thought you said that it was going to be a piece of cake,” said Zoro and Sanji rolled his eyes. Oh, no, he wasn’t going to let his boyfriend make fun of him like so!

“I was just warming up,” barked Sanji back and Zoro chuckled.

“Sure, whatever you say,” said Zoro and it was really hard to not laugh. But Sanji’s cheeks were red; he looked adorable. It was hard not to poke fun at him anymore. Sanji groaned and then decided to try again, this time quicker. Zoro was still laughing and Sanji took advantage of that. While the other was busy being a dick, he ran towards him and struck with his sword again. Zoro’s eyes widened when he saw Sanji’s sword coming towards him and he managed to block the attack. Barely.

Sanji grinned and he winked. “Don’t let your guard down, Marimo,” said Sanji, feeling proud that he managed to catch Zoro off guard and he winked. “Or I might just as well kick your ass for real,” he said and Zoro was smiling again.  _ Okay, this was going to be fun.  _ Also he couldn’t believe that he let his guard down so much! If Mihawk saw it, it would be….  _ horrible.  _ Zoro shook his head and then decided that it was time for a counter attack.

Zoro was the one that started running towards Sanji and Sanji grinned, hunching down again. Zoro didn’t expect Sanji to be so quick on his feet. Sanji quickly jumped away and then swung his sword, their swords again clashing and Zoro grinned. He didn’t let Sanji rest at all, quickly swinging his sword again and Sanji almost dropped the sword by the sheet power that Zoro struck him with. Gripping on the sword tighter, Sanji ducked down and tried to strike Zoro  _ from below, _ but it didn’t word out in his favour. Zoro blocked his attack and Zoro then swung his sword again and made the sword fly away from Sanji’s hands, whose jaw dropped.

“Easy as-”

“You wish,” said Sanji. He was frustrated with the sword anyway and he didn’t need it to win this fight. Sanji started running towards Zoro and before the green haired man knew what was happening, Sanji was already up in the air and Zoro’s eyes widened when Sanji attempted to  _ kick _ him? Zoro wanted to tell him that kicking wasn’t really fair, Sanji ducked down again and managed to trip Zoro over as he swung his leg behind Zoro’s and the other soon hit the hard and wooden floor below them. Sanji smiled and Zoro was now the one flushing from embarrassing.

“Oi, that wasn’t fair!” said Zoro and Sanji grinned.

“No, you just weren’t paying attention,” said Sanji and Zoro was slowly picking himself off the ground.

“I was paying attention just fine. You can’t come in here and start kicking, this isn’t,” said Zoro and shook his head, his voice trailing off. “Where did that even come from?” he asked and Sanji smiled. Zoro clearly wasn’t expecting him to do that and Sanji was happily smiling and he shrugged. Zoro started realising that he maybe underestimated Sanji and he bit his lip, hunching down again when he was on his legs. Okay, now he knew what to expect. Sanji just surprised him, that was all. 

“Hey, I said I’ll kick your ass, I didn’t specify which and what way I’ll do it,” said Sanji and Zoro grumbled under his breath.

“So you train too,” said Zoro and Sanji grinned.

“I did, yes, in the past. I learned that my legs were my advantage,” said Sanji and Zoro would agree with that. Sanji’s legs truly were something else and he was quite flexible. It was something that Zoro learned, but in  _ another  _ context. As Zoro’s mind was going down the gutter, Sanji took advantage of that again when he saw Zoro spacing out. Zoro was awfully distracted that day and Sanji didn’t really mind it. He was kind of… in awe and curious. “Oi, Marimo, you’re again not paying attention,” said Sanji when he kicked Zoro from the back, making his knees buckled.

Zoro was again falling on the floor, but this time he brought Sanji down with him. Zoro lost balance and he quickly grabbed on Sanji as he wanted to stay on his legs, but he was soon on the floor and Sanji yelped out when he was suddenly falling as well. Luckily for him, Zoro was there under him to soften his landing and both of them started laughing on top of their lungs, Zoro shaking his head and Sanji was grinning there on top of Zoro. “I win,” announced Sanji and Zoro cracked an eye open after he finally stopped laughing.

“It wasn’t a fair fight to behind with,” said Zoro and Sanji arched his brow. “How am I supposed to stay focused when I wanna make out with you every minute?” asked Zoro and Sanji started laughing. Well, that was a fair point to make and Sanji waggled his eyebrows. He looked around and because they were still the only ones in there, he-

“Well why don’t you?” crooned Sanji against Zoro’s lips.

Zoro didn’t need to be told twice - he wrapped his arms around Sanji and spun them around, so that Sanji was now trapped between Zoro and the floor, but he didn’t mind it too much. He wrapped his legs around Sanji’s hips and pulled him closer, their lips colliding and Sanji gasped softly when he felt Zoro deepen their kiss and he didn’t mind it at all. He let his eyes close, Zoro’s tongue slowly brushing against his own and Sanji was happily kissing his boyfriend back. Ah, nothing was better than a make out session after sparing at the dojo. Yep. It’s been on his bucket list for a while now and he was happy that they finally got to it. 

Zoro was slowly getting carried away - not that Sanji was fighting anyway - his hand slowly slipping under Sanji’s shirt and started lifting it up. Zoro grinned and licked across his lower lip when he heard Sanji’s little muffled moan as he flicked his thumb over his nipple, but their fun soon ended as there was coming a loud hum from the door and Zoro literally jumped off of Sanji because he could recognise that hum anywhere.  _ Low, stern and cold…  _ Mihawk. Sanji didn’t quite get what was happening and he pouted because they were just getting to the good part, but when he saw how pale Zoro’s face looked and was looking towards the door, he quickly turned his head and his eyes widened.

_ They weren’t alone anymore.  _ Fuck! 

Sanji was quickly on his legs, tucking the shirt back into his pants, trying to fix his messy hair, his cheeks red and he was trying his best not to flush too much. The hair was falling over his eyes, which made him able to hide from the situation to some extent, but Zoro was petrified and his eyes were wide. What… he didn't… but how and when did Mihawk get in there? Mihawk didn’t seem pissed. In fact, he seemed more amused than anything else. Still, Zoro felt beyond embarrassed and he looked over at Sanji, who didn’t know what to do with himself as well.

“A-apologies,” said Zoro finally and bowed down, Mihawk arching his brow. Sanji chewed on his lip and he rubbed the back of his head - was all of that really necessary? While it was embarrassing that they got caught, it shouldn’t- “We were just training, I’m sorry for-” started Zoro, but his voice soon trailed off. He really didn’t know what to say, this was too embarrassing. He has brought shame to the dojo by such a display of-

“Training?” asked Mihawk and snorted. “So that's how the young generation likes to call it these days,” said Mihawk and Sanji was fighting back his laughter. As he thought; Zoro was making too much of a big deal out of it and he was slowly back to normal. Zoro was still a mess and he tried to- Mihawk slowly walked past the two of them, disappearing through the door on the other side of the room and he returned inside for a few moments just to say- “Nice to meet you finally, Vinsmoke Sanji,” he said in the end and then finally left the room for good. 

When they were all alone again, Sanji couldn’t  _ not  _ burst out laughing and Zoro gave him a glare because he didn’t appreciate the other laughing like that. Sanji had nothing to do with Mihawk, but Zoro was his student and he gritted his teeth. “Idiot, that wasn’t funny,” grumbled Zoro and Sanji arched his brow but only started laughing louder. “Oi, I told you! Don’t laugh, there is nothing funny about-”

“It’s hilarious,” said Sanji and Zoro glared at him again.

“Shut up, idiot,” said Zoro, but didn’t keep pouting for much longer. As soon as Sanji’s lips brushed up against his own, the pout was gone and a little smile settled back onto his lips. “You’re a really bad influence,” said Zoro and Sanji snorted and then shrugged.

“Guilty?”

“Don’t say it so proudly,” snapped Zoro, but wasn’t really angry anymore. He tried to keep an angry face, but eventually the smile was back on his lips and he leaned against the wall and he cleared his throat. “So,” said Zoro and Sanji perked up. “Are you up for round two?” asked Zoro and Sanji snickered.

“Oh, I’m always up for  _ round two _ ,” said Sanji and Zoro groaned.

“Do you have to make it sound like  _ that? _ ” wined Zoro.

“Like what?” asked Sanji, but his meaning was anything  _ but  _ innocent. 

Zoro blinked a few times and then rolled his eyes. “You’re going down, perv cook,” said Zoro in the end and Sanji chuckled, following him over to the middle of the room.

“Bring it on,” said Sanji and so the fun was back on. 


	17. Chapter 17

“Here you go, Zoro,” said Sanji and handed Zoro the plate after washing it in the sink. Zoro took it from the cook’s hands and he dried it up with a cloth, putting it on the counter and took another plate that Sanji handed over to him. The two of them were over at Zoro’s like per usual. Usopp and Luffy were busy doing their own thing in the living room, while the two of them decided to clean up after the meal that Sanji prepared for all of them. Sanji was spending more and more time over at Zoro’s lately and everyone liked having Sanji around, especially Luffy. He liked Sanji a lot, he could see that he made Zoro happy. But more than that - if Sanji was there, there was yummy food on the table. If it was up to him, Sanji would become their roommate. He asked Sanji more than once and ended up getting a smack on the head from Zoro.  _ It wasn’t up to Luffy to decide what Sanji wanted to do or not.  _

Though, Zoro wouldn’t mind that at all if Sanji moved in with them. The place was big enough for four people to live in; the more the merrier in his own opinion. And both Luffy and Usopp have learned how to respect Zoro’s privacy - they learned it the hard way, both of them. So they wouldn’t really be interrupted if they would be in Zoro’s room, which was already big enough. He had a double sized bed and it was perfect. The only thing left was to ask Sanji and that was the hard part. They’ve been dating for around half a year now and in his own opinion it wouldn’t be too big of a step. Sanji was there practically all the time anyway, but-

“Zoro,” said Sanji and handed Zoro the plate again and then arched his brow when he saw that the other was spacing out and he chuckled. “Oi, marimo head,” said Sanji and Zoro finally snapped out of it. “This plate isn’t going to dry itself,” he said and Zoro quickly took the plate and nodded. “You guys should really invest into a washing machine,” he said and then glanced towards the living room form where Luffy’s laughter could be heard. “The amount of food that he can eat scares me,” mumbled Sanji and Zoro snorted.

“Tell me about it,” said Zoro and placed the last plate onto the side and then opened the cupboard, placing the plates in it. “Cleaning up dishes is a pain in the ass,” whined Zoro because he didn’t like being on washing duty. Being on washing duty with Sanji made things a lot easier, but still. “I’ll tell them about the dishwasher,” said Zoro and Sanji gave him a little nod and glanced towards the fridge.

“And a fridge with a lock on,” he said and Zoro laughed. There’s been many times when Sanji saw Luffy sneaking off into the kitchen, where he hunted for food in the fridge and left it open. He laughed softly and shook his head, placed his hands on top of his sides and then he shook his head. “But one thing’s for sure,” he said and Zoro arched his brow. “It never gets boring around here, does it?” asked Sanji and Zoro quickly nodded in agreement.

“Pretty much never,” said Zoro and Sanji laughed.

“I’m jealous in a way,” said Sanji and then leaned against the counter. “I like living with the old man, but sometimes I wish that it was a bit more lively around there,” he said, clicking with his tongue and he shrugged it off. Zoro perked up -  _ perhaps he could take that as the opportunity to ask Sanji about moving over to their place?  _ Zoro felt his cheeks heating up and he groaned under his breath. He was still bad at asking such- “Coming over is always fun,” he said and winked.

“Y-yeah,” said Zoro and then Sanji smiled. 

“Should we go back into the living room?” asked Sanji and walked over to the door but before he actually managed to walk through it, Zoro’s hand upon his wrist stopped him from getting too far and Sanji slowly turned to him and placed his hands together. “Yeah?” he asked and Zoro quickly released his hand and stepped back a little bit, chewed on his lower lip and then looked down. Sanji crossed his arms on top of his chest and then narrowed his eyes - what was this about?

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” said Zoro slowly and Sanji gave him a little nod.

“Okay?”

“I mean you can say no,” said Zoro and then made another little pause and felt his cheeks heating up. “But I was thinking,” he said and Sanji knitted his eyebrows together. Usually he would tease Zoro when he would say something like that, but something told him that this was different from usual and he nodded and stayed silent until Zoro continued talking. “You’re staying over practically every day now, right?” asked Zoro and Sanji nodded again.

“Well, yes, it’s a lot of fun,” said Sanji and his smile faltered a little bit. Well, it was fun for him and he knew that it was fun for Zoro too, but maybe someone else was bothered by his presence there. Usopp and Luffy were both his friends, but one could never be too sure. Sanji felt his heart falling to the pit of his stomach at the thought that one of Zoro’s good friends wouldn’t like him and he swallowed thickly. “Is-is that a problem?” he quickly asked and Zoro shook his head.

“Not at all,” said Zoro and his smile was slowly fading as well and he tried to think of a way to bring it up. Now he made it sound like someone didn’t like Sanji hanging out with them all the time and he cleared his throat. “It’s not like that at all,” said Zoro again and Sanji felt relieved immediately and the smile was back on his face. “Luffy and Usopp love it when you’re visiting,” he said and Zoro and Sanji hummed along and stepped closer to the other, leaning closer.

“And you?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” snapped Zoro and Sanji chuckled softly. Ah, Zoro was adorable when he was embarrassed and he shook his head. Zoro quickly glanced down as he didn’t like that same smirk plastered all over stupid cook’s face and he started thinking if it was really a good idea what he was about to say. If Sanji would be around all the time it would be…  _ amazing.  _ Who was he even kidding? He liked that Sanji was a handful and his cheeks were even redder as time continued passing.

“Well, I don’t know for sure,” said Sanji innocently and then laughed softly. “You’re so adorable when you’re embarrassed,” he continued teasing and Zoro quickly glared at him, shaking his head firmly.

“I’m not embarrassed nor adorable.”

“Yes, yes,” said Sanji and then shook his head, his hand itching to reach over to his pocket and pull out a new cigarette. Still, this seemed to be important and he sighed. “So, why bring it all up then?” asked Sanji and Zoro was again looking down and struggling to piece together a coherent sentence. 

“Well,” said Zoro finally and decided that it was time for him to  _ man up,  _ so to speak. “Like I’ve said, you’re here on a daily basis,” he said and Sanji again nodded. “And the place is big, y’know? I mean,” said Zoro and was tripping over the words badly, but he needed to say it out loud. Otherwise Sanji wouldn’t know what he was trying to tell him. “There’s three of us now, but it could easily be four of us,” said Zoro and then made another pause. Sanji’s eyes widened when he was slowly starting to realise what was on Zoro’s mind and he blinked a few times.

Zoro was going to ask him to move in with him? Sanji chewed on his lip and looked down as he was trying to wrap his head around it all. Honestly, he didn’t know if that was going to come out of Zoro’s mouth in the first place, but it sure sounded like so and he was getting… excited. Yes, he was getting excited. He loved Zoro’s friends… well, now they were his own friends as well.  _ Their  _ friends. It sounded so cheesy when he thought about it like that, but it was smooth sailing since the two of them started dating. Mostly. There were some bumps every now and then, but nothing that they couldn’t work out with the help of their friends.

Sanji told his old man about Zoro, though the other had it all figured out as it was before Sanji even came out with the truth. But in a way, Sanji was glad that he didn’t have to do some grand reveal. It was much easier and he was grateful for that. The old man liked Zoro, though he wouldn’t really say it out loud because Zeff just wasn’t like that. But he could tell that the man liked his boyfriend and he chewed on his lip. Sanji felt happy for the first time in years and it was a good feeling.

Sometimes he felt like he was getting too much, but when he thought about it again, he realised that it was something that he deserved - after so many years of hiding who he truly was, he was finally free to be who he truly was. And all it took was one very stubborn marimo to make him realise that. Sanj chuckled and then again snapped back to reality and looked up at Zoro.

So, would he wanna move in with Zoro if he was really going to ask him? Very much, indeed. Of course he’d have to have a talk with his old man, but he knew that Zeff wouldn’t make too much of a big deal out of it. Sanji finally decided to speak up. “Um, okay?” asked Sanji, his heart hammering hard against his ribcage. “What were you about to ask me again?” asked Sanji as he tried to hide how nervous yet excited he truly was.

“Right,” said Zoro and hummed along. “Not that it’s a big deal or something,” said Zoro, now trying to play it off as cool and Sanji snickered, but rolled his eyes. “Maybe, if you’d like, you could move in with all us?” asked Zoro, trying to look completely cool and collected, but Sanji could see past that facade and his eyes widened even if he already had a hunch about what was going to happen. 

Sanji’s heart was hammering against his ribcage and melting from happiness - he never thought that he would actually… Still, Sanji didn’t say anything for quite a while and the silence was killing Zoro. In reality it was just a few seconds of silence, but to Zoro it felt like minutes and he didn’t like it, licking across his lower lip and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I-I know it’s probably stupid, right?” asked Zoro and started laughing loudly. “Besides Zeff probably wouldn’t-”

“Zoro, I love you, but please shut up,” said Sanji and laughed. “You’re ruining the moment,” said Sanji, unable to hide his smile and Zoro quickly stopped talking and waited for a second or two, but because Sanji still didn’t reply, he was-

“So? Will you move in or not?”

Sanji chuckled and then nodded slowly. “Yes, I’d love that,” said Sanji and moved closer. “It’s been on my mind for a little while now,” he said and then shrugged. “If it’s fine with all of you guys,” he said and Zoro quickly nodded. Both Usopp and Luffy were up for it, he asked them and they were supportive about it. “I would love to move in with you,” said Sanji just in the moment when the kitchen door opened and Luffy stepped inside of the room and his eyes widened. 

_ Sanji was going to finally move in? _

“Sanji, you’re moving in with us?” asked Luffy on top of his lungs, making sure that Usopp heard him from the living room and Zoro rolled his eyes when he heard running. Great, now they weren’t going to even-

“Sanji, you’re moving in?!” asked Usopp and before Sanji managed to nod Luffy threw himself around his neck and Sanji was laughing. Gosh, those two were even more emotional than Sanji himself before and Zoro gritted his teeth. This was supposed to be a special moment for him and Sanji, but those two now ran into the room and were already celebrating the good news. Zoro was massaging his temples, but in the end he smiled; he was glad that his friends were so happy about the news.

“That’s amazing news, yummy food every day,” cheered Luffy.

“No more grumpy Zoro,” chimed in Usopp as he started hugging Sanji as well.

Sanji was overwhelmed by all the attention, but he didn’t mind it. He was laughing along until Zoro pulled him away from the other two and stepped in front of him. “You two behave or cook and I will be moving out and get our own place,” said Zoro and Usopp stuck his tongue out.

“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Marimo,” said Usopp and Zoro’s jaw dropped.

“Mari-”

“Yeah, Sanji’s our friend too,” said Luffy and pouted.

“Who’s jealous?”

“You!” said Usopp and pointed at Zoro.

“When?!” snapped the other back and the fight was soon over when Sanji’s laughter was being heard in the room. All three looked at him - Sanji was laughing, his arms wrapped around his stomach as he couldn’t stop laughing. They were such an interesting trio and he was shaking his head around. “Cook, don’t laugh, don’t you see I’m-”

“I’m gonna love it here,” said Sanji in the end and looked over at Zoro, who was fighting back another flush, but when Sanji’s lips brushed against his cheek, his bad mood was gone and he was smiling again. “But we must cover the basis,” said Sanji and Zoro cocked his head to the side when Sanji looked over at Luffy. “We must get a lock on that fridge,” he said and Usopp was laughing to the point of tears soon after.

“Oi, oi, why are-”

“I’m kidding, I’m really happy you welcomed me with open arms, Luffy,” said Sanji in the end and Luffy was smiling again. Meanwhile Usopp and Luffy were cheering that Sanji was moving in with them, the blonde walked over to Zoro and leaned up to press his lips up against his own, giving him a proper kiss this time and Zoro clicked with his tongue, but the smile on his lips was brighter than ever. 

Zoro pressed his forehead up against Sanji’s and both of them chuckled -  _ this was going to be so much fun!  _ And a new chapter was soon to begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we have reached the end. I would like to thank everyone that has been supporting me on this journey, it means so much to me. Thank you for everything and I hope that you have enjoyed this as much as I have. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, if you liked it leave a comment or kudo, thank you <3


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